The Occupational Hazard
by WitheredWings
Summary: When a very taken Oliver is patrolling the city, he finds out Felicity is seeing someone and he grows more and more agitated as he finds out more facts about this man Felicity has been "dating". Needless to say, he takes things into his own hands before it is too late. Olicity, very Slightly AU (not all storylines are followed but the main ones are), OOC!Roy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this was made after I read a prompt, and I hope it's not too bad.**

**It's been a long time since I've written fanfiction and it's also the first time I've written an Arrow fic, so it might be slightly OOC,**

**but let's try and make the best of it.**

**I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow and have had no part in creating the comic or tv series except for being an especially erratic fan.**

* * *

_Chapter One_

_x_

It had started a few days ago. Maybe a bit longer, but Oliver did not want to think about that now. Best not think about those things too much.

He jumped from the police station building onto the flat next to it, staying close to the edge of the building to observe what was happening in the street. A young woman walked the pavement with a brisk pace, stopping to smell flowers when she passed a flower stall. She stood there for a bit, hopping from one foot onto the other, chatting with the man next to her. Oliver waited as the scene played out in front of him. It was a scene he had already seen a few times, but it still made him smile. She would buy the flowers, though she was always visibly wondering if it was bad to pamper herself that much. Oliver knew, because she would always walk away shaking her head at herself. He watched as she bought a single lily and got it wrapped. She walked away, shaking her head as always. As she walked away from the stall, however, she kept glancing at the lily and smiling. Oliver rolled his eyes at her antics.

The petite blonde walked on and Oliver followed her silently.

Yes, it had definitely started more than a few days ago. Maybe a week, he thought. But then, he hadn't known before then. If he'd known, it might have been longer. But it was not like he and Felicity exchanged walking routes daily, so it came as a surprise when she mentioned a certain rough part of the Glades. Dig had been explaining why he disliked his route to Verdant and she had reacted by mentioning her new walking route to the foundry. Apparently "the other way was so much longer". Oliver furrowed his eyebrows as he thought back to how he, Roy and Diggle had convinced her to come to the foundry via another road. They had made her promise she would take the other road and he had to admit that she did go as far as to do that. Only to give them peace of mind, apparently.

It was a good thing he had thought to patrol that side of the Glades that very same night. Oliver shook his head, pursing his lips. Stubborn woman. Sometimes she took on way more than she would be able to handle.

He glanced in the direction she was heading. It was a quiet street she was in now, but there would be more people in her own street. The question was not whether those two streets were crowded, however, but if the streets in-between were.

Felicity looked around at the corner of an alleyway and went inside, making sure nobody was following her. Good. At least she had the common sense to be concerned about her route. The cream-colored heels she was wearing clicked on the cobblestones as she made her way through the alley with a determined step. Oliver followed, crouching lower to keep a good eye on the road in front of her. It was a rough part of the Glades, but somehow Felicity always seemed to cross it unharmed. Or so she thought.

He had been patrolling the area frequently now that he knew she passed through it every night, not always opting to follow her, but mostly dropping by during the day to make sure the shady people in the area had been removed before she would walk through it.

Oliver ran ahead of her, checking adjoining alleys for unwanted guests on her way home. The alley was long and winding, and it took him some time to check it completely. When he did not spot any threats, he ran back. He walked alongside her, watched her stroll through the dodgy street. At the end of the alleyway she turned left, took another right and followed that for a long time before passing through another small alley. At the end of the alley, she stood still for a second, appreciating the view. She followed the long road to the right, where she, like always, waved to someone who was inside an IT-shop and then looked for her keys in front of a large red brick building. Oliver rolled his eyes as she stumbled a bit whilst looking for them. For such a strong-headed woman she surely was weak-balanced. Or maybe she was just clumsy.

Probably the latter, Oliver decided, when he saw her walk up the steps to the front door of her flat building and dropped her keys. She grabbed her keys and Oliver was just enjoying the view, when she abruptly jumped up and looked his way. He fell down on the rooftop of the building he was on and waited a few minutes. When he lifted his head, she was looking at other buildings. After she had looked her fill (Oliver was getting uncomfortable on the cold concrete), she turned her keys in the lock of the big black doors and opened it. She stepped inside her flat building and made the trek upstairs.

Oliver knew this was where he had to leave her be, he had to go meet Sara back at the lair. Sara had said something about cooking for him and some nice desert after, which had made his head swim with possibilities. He took a few more minutes, however, to make sure she got upstairs alright. The lights in her flat flicked on. He could see her put the lily into a vase, put it on the windowsill and then take off her coat. That was it then, he realized, as she disappeared out of view. She was safe.

He just turned to walk away when a person approaching the building caught his eye. A figure with a blue vest was making his way up to the door, jumping up the stairs.

Oliver frowned when the man rung the bell to Felicity's apartment and was let in immediately, almost as if Felicity was expecting the man to come by. Oliver leaned over the edge of his building, opposite of Felicity's flat, a bit. A faint suspicion started to grow in his mind when he saw Felicity open the front door for the man and offer him one of the glasses of red wine that were already in her hands when he came in.

The two clinked their glasses together after the dark haired guy had moved out of view to put away his coat and they leaned in closer as they started talking. Before long, they had moved to the couch next to the window. They were sitting close, too close for Oliver's liking. Not that he had the right to worry about it. Felicity was old enough to make her own choices and if she wanted to date men and not tell him or Dig about it, that was fine. It made no sense whatsoever that he did not want them sitting this close. He should let the two of them be. Besides, he had a date with Sara to get to.

Instead of turning around, however, he watched the two like a hawk. He followed every movement and every look that they shared. His jaw clenched when Felicity put her hand on the man's chest and laughed about some joke he had made. When the stranger grabbed her hand and held it, however, Oliver was suddenly subjected to a strong spark of anger. He shook his head whilst the two of them finished their wine, willing the emotion away. There was not enough time for him to worry about Felicity's activities outside of work. Besides, asking her about it would cause an awkward situation with him admitting he followed her home sometimes. And he sure as hell did not have time for awkwardness in his team. Yes. That was it. The cause of his irritation. That had to be it. It was agitation at the timing of this sudden discovery. And nobody could convince him otherwise. A bit scared by the overwhelming urge to punch something after seeing Felicity so close with a man, he turned away and ran back to the foundry,

Time for dinner.

* * *

When Oliver donned his hood in the foundry the next afternoon, Diggle came up to help him with putting away his bow. With a grateful nod of his head, he gave his bow and quiver to John and moved to the back of the foundry to change into normal clothing. When he returned, Diggle was looking at the news on the computer screen. Oliver suddenly noted Felicity's absence and commented upon it.

"She mentioned something about shopping for a dress. Left in a hurry. She has a formal thing tonight, something to do with a friend graduating."

Oliver nodded.

"She's been out of it a bit lately, hasn't she," he noted. Diggle turned around in his chair, arched eyebrows and bewildered look and all. "I mean, dreaming a bit?"

"If you mean distracted, then yeah. But she's still with it enough to focus."

"Is something going on with her? Have you heard anything?"

Diggle looked around the foundry. He stood and put off the computer screen.

"It's called conversation, Oliver. You should try it sometime. It consist of you two talking, asking questions and you replying with more than a grunt or a one-syllable

word."

Oliver glared at Diggle.

"Nice, Dig. I'll try it sometime, but in the meantime, fill me in."

Diggle looked at the wall and sighed.

"Her friend has decided to hook her up with some guy. I don't know how it went, we haven't spoken much the last few days. Bit busy saving your ass. But my guess is, it went well."

"Some guy?"

Diggle chuckled.

"Well, you know Felicity. By the time she'd checked him out completely, police record and all, he was probably not 'some guy' anymore."

Oliver chuckled as well.

"You can say a lot about Felicity, but you can't say she isn't thorough," Diggle said.

"No," Oliver agreed. "But she is naïve if she thinks looking up any information about a person is enough to know they are a safe bet to be alone with."

Pursing his lips in an obvious attempt to disguise his grin, Diggle nodded.

"Maybe you should try telling her that."

Oliver rolled his eyes and walked towards their coats, throwing Diggle his coat before shrugging on his own.

"Will you stop," he snapped. "I can talk with Felicity just fine!"

Diggle coughed, trying to cover up his answer as he put on his black coat.

"Doesn't really show."

Oliver walked up the stairs to Verdant, pretending to have not heard any of it. Diggle hastened to join him after sniggering for a few seconds.

* * *

After a particularly long phone call with Sara, Oliver put down his phone on the desk and sighed. They had agreed to have dinner at Laurel's, but Oliver still felt like he was pushing their relationship a bit too much. Laurel should get time to get used to the situation, to be able to act normal around them. They had disagreed on how to go about it, just now, with the sour aftertaste of Sara uninviting him. Naturally, she was irritated that she couldn't parade him around, but Oliver thought there might be more to it. He didn't have time to worry, though, because Felicity and Diggle walked into the foundry. Oliver grabbed his towel and finally got to toweling off some of the sweat that had formed during his intense workout. Felicity saw him, glanced at his torso a bit too long and then ran towards her computer and started tapping on her keyboard quickly.

"Hi Oliver," she mindlessly threw his way and was completely absorbed by the computer within seconds.

"Hi… you," Oliver answered, looking from Felicity to Diggle, frowning at her behavior. It irked him, because he had seen how familiar she could be with Diggle _and_ her mystery man, and he had known her longer than both of them. He gave Diggle a questioning look. Diggle shrugged.

"She's thought of a way to track where Slade may possibly be operating from. Hi, by the way."

Felicity threw up her hand, waving it around.

"Shouldn't take long, just give me a minute."

Oliver nodded and patted Dig's shoulder, then gestured to his phone.

"Hey. I was actually just thinking of ordering some sushi from that new place that Felicity was talking about. Who's in?"

"Me," Felicity called, without looking up from her computer.

"What about Roy," Oliver wondered aloud.

Diggle shook his head, zipping up his coat again.

"He's out helping this campaign in the Glades. Not me, either. I just popped in to tell you I put up those extra cameras near the back entrance. Have to go to that engagement party tonight."

"Oh, that's tonight," Felicity mumbled absentmindedly.

Oliver was struck by her ability to remember things. Sure, Diggle had mentioned his cousin being engaged and a party once, but he would never have connected the dots as fast as Felicity did.

"You looking forward to it," he asked.

Diggle grimaced.

"Not really, the rest of the family is a bit weird. My uncle is into some voodoo shit, so I try to stay away from that most the time. It's just that I quite like this cousin."

Oliver nodded, patting Dig's shoulder again. He swept away the sweat from his forehead, afterwards waving at Diggle, who was walking towards the stairway already.

"Tell me how it went tomorrow, Dig," Felicity called.

"Have fun," Oliver called.

He watched Diggle walk up the stairs two at a time as he was thinking about what Diggle had said earlier. Oliver wondered if now was as good a time as any to start practicing that conversation-thing Diggle had mentioned with Felicity. Might as well.

He grabbed his phone, deciding to order a large variety of sushi to be brought to Verdant. When the door had closed behind Diggle, he consulted Felicity.

"Felicity, I'm thinking a bit of everything. What do you think?"

* * *

That made Felicity look up from the screen and gaze at him for a second. She tilted her head and thought about the question for a second, only to realize she had been staring straight at Oliver's abs. Not that that was not normal for her, but she wanted to at least keep up the pretense that she could handle all the nakedness and so she looked away. A blush adorned her face, she knew, because her face was too warm for it to remain its' normal peachy color.

"I'm down," she agreed.

Oliver nodded and he was ringing the company within a few seconds.

She went back to her computer, trying hopelessly to ignore the shirtless man beside her desk. It was not that she could not handle men being shirtless. Not at all. It was just the fact that this particular man was ridiculously handsome, man-candy even, and chiseled beyond anything she had seen in her life. Those abs were drool-worthy and judging by Oliver's total amount of conquests, she was not the only one who thought so.

_Gah, there is a time and place for thinking about these things_, she reprimanded herself. This was neither and it was definitely not helping her in getting over this ridiculous infatuation with the millionaire playboy slash vigilante. God, she had thought that taking her friend's advice and hooking up with someone would help her get rid of it. _If only_! It had made it worse! Her mind had gone into overdrive, thinking about things she had not ever thought about beforehand. Every time she was around him, she was assaulted by her mind, wondering how he would kiss, what he would taste like…

She wondered if it would ever end. It was irritating, because it not only created awkward situations for her, but it also made her feel guilty. Guilty for thinking things about someone who had been nothing but good to her. But she couldn't help it, the thoughts popped up out of nowhere. Like how it would be to eat sushi off of his ridiculously attractive stomach and how it would feel to be licking down a trail from his chest to-

_Wait. Stop. Abort operation. _God, this had to stop.

"So, Felicity. How have you been?"

The question made Felicity's fingers stop tapping the keyboard and look in his direction guiltily, eyes wide. Had he been able to read from her face the thoughts she'd been having? She drowned in his eyes for a bit before she remembered he had asked a question. Oh, right. He had probably not noticed, then.

"Oh, you know. I've been hacking federal agencies, trying to defeat enemies whilst staying ahead of any hackers on the good side. Life is peachy," she replied. This was good. This area of conversation she could deal with.

Oliver grinned and looked at the computer in front of her. Her heart did a little jump at the amused look he seemed to have reserved only for her.

"Next to that, though. Diggle said something about you dating a new guy?"

Felicity looked at her screen and nodded slowly. There was no need to hide it from him, necessarily.

"Yes… there's someone," she cautiously answered. This was not really something she wanted to get into too deep, though. It wasn't anything serious and she might  
break it off soon, anyway. It wasn't helping at all. If anything, it was rather distracting at work and especially when lives were at stake, she had to focus. Yup, it might be best to stop.

"Is he… safe? Did anyone vouch for him before you dated?"

Felicity glared at Oliver and pursed her lips before answering.

"Are you implying I didn't do enough of a background check?"

Oliver laughed, then. Felicity did not join him, though, still giving him bitchface number one when he stopped laughing.

"No, Felicity, far from it. I was just thinking that background checks and actual behavior in real life are something different. I wondered if you two have a friend in common or something."

Felicity nodded.

"We have quite a few friends in common. He is… not known for any weird behavior," she answered. It was true. They had plenty other things in common as well. Just not enough to base a relationship on, thankfully.

Oliver seemed to mull over that information in his thoughts and Felicity went on tapping on her keyboard. She was almost finished and she would be busy giving the system an update later, so it was of vital importance that this was done soon. If she didn't, she might be there the whole night, which was not her idea of 'living the life'.

"Have you met up with him a lot, already?"

She considered that question, but not for long.

"Once," she answered. She saw Oliver's eyebrows arching and he seemed a bit shocked. She hastened to explain. "But we really clicked so I think it might be something. Not that I have, you know, planned a whole wedding ceremony and vows and everything, but it is just good to be in the dating circuit for a while and blow off some steam. I mean, not blow off _that_ kind of steam, just… to relax."

Oh no, there it was. The classic word waterfall she did when she got self-conscious. She snapped her mouth shut and looked at the keyboard in front of her, grimacing at her own behavior. Oliver was still looking at her in surprise, but then his look of surprise turned to something else. He stared at her intensely and she squirmed in her seat. His jaw clenched for a few seconds, but then he seemed to think better of it and let go. He sighed.

"Make sure that he is a decent guy, okay? Weird stuff can happen these days. It might be smart to tell someone when and where you've got a date, beforehand."

Felicity nodded.

"I'm being safe," she said. Then she blushed, realizing what she had just said. "No, no, err, I mean that I've got this friend I text with details so someone knows where I am and with whom. That's what I mean with being safe. Naturally, I also used protection but that is probably a bit too much of an overshare-"

She stopped her rambling by putting her hand in front of her mouth. Wide-eyed, she looked at her screen. _No. No, she had not just said that_. She glanced at Oliver's face, who was clenching his jaw now, probably trying to contain his laughter, and was looking at the wall to his side. _Shit_.

An awkward silence ensued, which Felicity refused to break because it would result in even more overshare, and Oliver couldn't break because he had to control himself. Just the thought of Felicity having sex with this man had him clenching the desk beneath him in a vice-like grip. After a little while, though, he managed to get his feelings in check. He chuckled, as if it was a funny thing what she had said.

"That kind of date, huh," he growled.

Felicity coughed and looked at her screen, ashamed of her actions. She nodded.

"He's very attractive," she offered in a high-pitched voice, shrugging. "And he has cool pajamas."

Oliver laughed at that. It was a weird kind of laugh, though. It wasn't anything like his normal laugh and he was clenching the desk way too tightly when he doubled over. Nevertheless, she joined him to get rid of the anxious feeling inside and to hide the blush that was coming up.

"Sorry, just… I hadn't expected that from you. You seem such a relationship kind of girl."

"I am," she answered with a clipped voice. "Just not all the time."

Oliver nodded.

"Make sure you don't get hurt, okay?"

Felicity looked him in the eyes and saw the worry radiating from them. She nodded and stood when the backdoor cameras that Diggle had put up showed a man bringing their take-out sushi.

"I will. But first… sushi," she exclaimed.

She ran towards the back door, but before she could open it, she was stopped.

"Felicity?"

She spun around happily, only to spin into a wall behind her and lose her balance. She was steadied by two arms and when she was standing on two feet again, she opened her eyes slowly. She was surprised to see Oliver standing only a few inches in front of her. The proximity of his body to hers took her breath away for a second. His eyes were so near she could count his lashes and look deep into his green eyes if she wanted to. His smell was all around her.

"Yeah," she breathed.

Oliver looked at her lips and put a step forward. Felicity felt the electricity spark between them and she struggled to take a step back. She had to keep a clear mind, had to keep some sort of sanity going. The pull his body was having on hers was something she had not yet encountered before, however, and she found herself entranced by his eyes. She was drowning in their color and had no idea how to save herself this time.

"For the record, I think it's cool that you judge men on their pajamas."

He was smirking now, looking at her reaction. When she realized what he had said, she felt her cheeks heat up and rolled her eyes at his comment. She wrecked her brain for a fitting reaction to his statement.

"Yeah yeah, I- I'm sure your pajamas are really nice as well."

That made Oliver smirk even wider, shaking his face when he took a step back, eyes never leaving hers. She almost leaned forward to keep that small distance intact. Almost.

"Oh no. I sleep in the nude."

Felicity gasped and Oliver walked away, chuckling to himself.

* * *

**DunDunDunnn,**

**There's more to come, obviously. **

**For now, if you liked it or have any points you think need improvement, please tell me via a review or PM~**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **

**So the amount of reactions, alerts and faves kind of surprised me since it is so long ago that I actively wrote fanfiction and I couldn't imagine doing ok at it anymore,**

**BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF IT. You are LOVELY people and such dears and I cannot express how loved I felt. I was flailing my arms behind the pc the whole time. It was AWESOME.**

**Also, I corrected the Ollie mistake in ch 1- I knew something felt wrong there but I couldn't find out why, and now I know. There's a few nudges in that direction in this chapter, because well why not.**

**Since it's been such a long time for me, I'm not promising anything awesome for this chapter, I'm just hoping its not too much OOC and I hope to god I didnt make any obvious mistakes again.**

**ALSO I AM SO EXCITED FOR TONIGHTS EPISODE YOU DONT UNDERSTAND. THE STILLS MAN THE STILLS. We are so going to die of feels.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the awesomeness of Arrow because if I did, Olicity would be canon already.**

* * *

_Chapter Two_

_x_

A few days later found Oliver, unsurprisingly, on the rooftop across from Felicity's flat again. As he watched her get into her flat building, he mused about his conversation with Diggle. Sure, Diggle had a point. But how to go about changing his a-bit-more-than-acquaintances to friends?

He glanced at her flat window, wondering about the unknown interior of Felicity's home. What colors would she prefer? Would she have a nice kitchen or was she more of a take-out person? Did she have a huge dining table or a bar to sit at?

He crouched on the building top, trying to get a glimpse of the interior of the flat. Behind the new lily Felicity had purchased, he could see a big brown couch with a little folded blanket over the back of it. Behind that he could see a cream colored wall and a pristine white door, but nothing more. In the right corner he could spot the front door of the flat, white as well. There seemed to be a few items attached to the front door. Cards, maybe?

It bothered him that he did not know anything about the house. Were there pictures of her and her friends inside, pictures of her and her family? Was she the comfort over style kind of girl?

He always liked to think she was. Or at least a combination of the two.

After the talk they had had earlier, though, Oliver doubted whether he would find out soon. Felicity had opted for short answers towards him or sneers, lately, and some sort of clipped tone that he identified as pissed off. Maybe it was because he had pushed her into a box by thinking that she was the relationship kind of girl, but then, wasn't that a positive box?

Still, it all came down to the fact that she hadn't forgotten that, though. He would have to make up for it somehow. Usually he would treat a friend to dinner, but considering the fact that he had a girlfriend, taking someone else out for dinner might have to be mentioned somewhere. Not that they had to have a whole discussion, but it was best to mention it in passing. Sarah was usually very lenient. They had both understood that they had their own priorities next to each other. For both of them family was very high up on that list, but for Oliver, John and Felicity were certainly as important. Roy definitely was, too. So if he needed to fix things with Felicity because he wanted to, Sarah would probably budge.

Sarah was not unreasonable, just sometimes a bit evasive and harsh in comparison to how she had been. In comparison to how he had known her. It was unavoidable, though. They had both changed. Sometimes he wondered if that was for the better, but in their line of so-called work, they could not afford to still be the same. No, when looking at the situation from that viewpoint it was good that they had changed. The problem with that change was, however, that Oliver had been able to re-adapt afterwards. He had found new friends, started creating the club, took over Queen Consolidated, created the foundry… During all of that, if he had any setbacks he had both his old friends and his new ones to fall back on. The new ones had accepted him the way he was, the Oliver he was now in comparison to the Ollie his old friends knew him as. Sarah only had her old friends and no matter how accepting Oliver himself tried to be, even he knew there was a side to her he didn't know yet. It was simple: you don't work for Rhaz-al-Ghûl and come back just peachy.

In conclusion, Sarah had not gone through the same changes after her time on the island and with Rhaz-al-Ghûl. She was perpetually in fighting mode and when deep in thought, mostly thinking about what could be looming in the night instead of how to establish a new life. It was something he had done at first as well. He had gradually found a new purpose, though, as a result of creating a team and resolving not to kill anymore. Sarah was kicking against those values again and again, wanting to kill people and seeing everything in black and white. The problem was, however, that no matter how much he tried to pull her up with him, she collapsed again the moment she was on her own. And wasn't that kind of the point of a relationship? To grow together and both get something out of the relationship?

Oliver had to find a way for them to do so. If they didn't, Sarah would be pulling him back instead of helping him face what was coming head on.

As Oliver considered his options on how to get out of the loop he and Sarah were in, he saw Felicity's apartment light up. The door opened and Oliver saw Felicity come in, holding the door for someone. Wide-eyed, he saw a male person walk through the door. And judging from the casual clothing, it was once again the same man. Oliver shook his head and clenched his teeth. When did the man get in? Where _the hell_ did that guy come from? He had not seen anyone walk into the building after Felicity and he had been standing there before she had actually gotten in, as well, so that left… the back door. Oh, how cunning. Trust Felicity to find the loophole in his plan. He chuckled at her intelligence and could not help but admire her stubbornness.

Naturally, she was a free woman and able to do what she wanted. The point was, Oliver felt that this was not the Felicity he knew. On the other hand, just how well did he actually know her?

He knew she liked red wine, odd foods, her mother was a cocktail waitress in Vegas, her father had run out on them and she had gone to MIT to escape all that. She dyed her hair, was allergic to nuts, her middle name was Megan and she was unbelievably good with computers but a disaster if it got to her being embarrassed and the rambling started. That did not mean he knew what she did in her free time, how many boyfriends she had had, how loose she had been during her MIT time (though her experience with pot brownie and stalkers did seem to imply it was not that loose) or what she did to relax after a long day.  
But he did want to know. Every time he walked her home, he wondered more and more what was happening behind those windows and inside that pretty little head. Every day again, he found himself wondering about different aspects of her life. The conclusion he got out of it was always the same: he needed to talk to her more. And he would, he promised. Just after he had apologized.

The two in the apartment across from him were once again seated with a glass of wine, but this time the man did not go into small talk and started kissing her out of nowhere. It made Oliver wince, the amount of subtlety in the move. It also flared up that familiar feeling of anger again. This idiot clearly had no idea how to love a real woman and how to take time with Felicity because she needed to be eased into things. Not that she seemed to be refusing from where he was standing, though. Oliver punched the chimney next to him with one arm. God, when was she going to realize that she deserved more than this?

Irritated and certainly not in for watching an M-rated scene with Felicity and a strange man as lead characters, Oliver turned on his heels and stalked away.

* * *

Felicity's red Mini rolled to a stop in front of a small coffee shop. As she admired the red and white striped sunscreen and the wooden tables and chairs on the outside, Felicity honked twice. She parked the car next to the shop and sat back in her seat, closing her eyes. It had been a late night, since she had been in the foundry hacking the SCPD server. Luckily, Diggle had opted to stay with her and keep her awake with coffee and encouraging words in-between his sparring matches with what she called 'the wooden doll'. Starting at nine the day after, however, was not exactly a thrill. Felicity sighed and bumped her head against her headrest. Why was she so nice to people, saying that she would obviously 'hack the server, what do you think I do for a living'.

Felicity leaned over the passenger seat and glanced at the shop. As if on cue, from the entrance of the shop a tall, olive-skinned woman appeared. She looked impeccable as always, Felicity noted. She was wearing a black pencil skirt with a turquoise wavy shirt above it and a black blazer. Smooth and sophisticated. It was the little things that Felicity noted, however, more than these larger things. Norah's coat was hanging over her arm all crumpled and her hair was sticking out in some places. She had been in a hurry that morning.

Felicity waved at the woman, leaning over to open the passenger side door.

"Good morning to _you_," Norah sang to Felicity. Felicity glared at her, not really feeling like listening to Norah's musical-impressions. "Oh, God. Is it that kind of morning again?"

The glare intensified until Norah handed Felicity one of the coffees she was holding.

"Here, a double soy latté will cheer you up in no time."

A warm smile formed on Felicity's face. She held the coffee in two hands as she felt a warm feeling bubble up inside her. Norah had a way about her that just gave her that fuzzy feeling of comfort and she would never grow tired of it. She leaned backwards, tipping a mouthful of the heavenly liquid into her mouth as Norah threw her suitcase in the back and sat down on the passenger seat. Felicity made a happy sound at the taste of her drink and Norah joined her not long after as she drank her black coffee.

Her friend Norah was a coffee lover and also, on a completely unrelated note, a well-respected lawyer. She worked in the law firm building next to Queen Consolidated, and on days that Felicity worked there, they commuted. Lately, it hadn't been that much considering her hours were mostly spent with Team Arrow, but the company still paid her for most of the hours she spent there during the day.

"So what's gotten into you, Miss Grumpy?"

The blonde made a face as she held her coffee in two hands again.

"I had to work late last night."

Norah glanced at her and arched her brows as she peeled away the top of her to-go cup.

"Really? I didn't see your car on my way home from work."

Felicity swallowed.

"No, I mean I had to work overtime at Verdant because Oliver Queen asked for me, which would have been fine if it hadn't resulted in working until 1 am and if the whole damn network hadn't crashed on me halfway through. I swear he needs to up his standards. Well, he needs to up all his standards in life, especially in women," that earned her a look from Norah. "But just try to tell him that, he's as intimidating as they come. Oh, sorry. I mean. He needs to update his computer system."

Norah cackled at that and then, after a minute of silence, snorted as Felicity pulled away from the parking bay.

"I think both. Also, as if it bothered you to be in Oliver Queen's proximity, please. Every woman would have a field day just watching him sit behind his desk. To think you are his favorite IT-specialist and get to work with him daily… Damn girl, how have you not tried to jump him yet?"

"Don't you start," Felicity snapped. Her face softened when she saw Norah's surprised face in the rearview mirror. She explained. "I have a hard enough time not thinking about him at work and keeping my talking-before-thinking tendency at bay, please don't make it start outside of work too."

Norah waved her hand in the air and nodded as she swallowed some coffee. Felicity took the opportunity to drink some as well as she drove on.

"Yada yada yada, don't take your bad luck of having a pretty man-boss out on me," she answered, pointing a finger at the driver. Then, while she was turning back to looking at the road, her mouth formed an O and she snapped back to Felicity. "Speaking of pretty men … Did you ring that guy, what was his name? Mr. White Wine?"

"That's what you call him. I was opposed to the name," she answered. Since she hated white wine, she was opposed to calling anyone that name. It gave them a negative connotation without even really knowing them and that was just not fair.

"Exactly," Norah said, glossing over the details. Felicity shook her head at the technique, but couldn't help chuckling. "So… did you ring him again?"

Felicity glanced at her friend as she waited for the traffic light to turn green. She refused to answer for some time, but when her friend put on her best pleading look, she gave up.

"Yes. Twice."

The brunette whooped, then remembered she had coffee in her hands and stilled her movements again. Felicity focused on the road again; the light had turned green.

"I can't believe you took my advice for once! See, just sex can be fun. It doesn't need to change everything!"

She slapped Felicity on the thigh, making her jump a bit and break accidentally, causing the person behind them to honk at them. Felicity glared at Norah, then carried on driving and sipping her coffee as she thought about what her friend had said.

"Maybe it doesn't… Not with him anyway. But I'm _still_ distracted all the time, the only difference now being _having_ a guy to fantasize about instead of _pining_ for a mystery."

"Welcome to my world," Norah answered.

Felicity laughed and her friend looked out the side window as they passed by her husband's workplace. Just a few more traffic lights before they would park, leave the car and go their separate ways, Felicity realized.

"There's still a difference between your situation and mine."

The olive-skinned beauty threw her hands in the air.

"Oh, pray tell. Not having to wake up to his morning breath?"

The tech genius laughed at that. She had known Norah's husband Jay for a few years now and apparently, his morning breath was legendary. Even Jay's friends talked about it after he slept over or when reminiscing rowdy nights and their morning after. Still, she knew all of them loved Jay. Anyone who couldn't, was inhuman. Jay must be the world's most cuddly, nicest person wrapped up in the body of a huge footballer who was actually a tax attorney.

"No. I don't miss that at all. Still, you guys are interested in each other's lives and worry about how much coffee the other drinks or whether or not you brought the brand of marshmallows the other person likes. We are interested in each other as well, only up to a certain degree. Plus, I feel like a slut. _Oliver Queen_ even called me a slut."

Her friend's head nearly bent the rules of physics with the fast way she twisted in her seat towards Felicity, opened her mouth and closed it again.

"He said you were a slut? Can I kick him in the face? … Wait, you told Oliver Queen about Mr. White Wine?"

Felicity laughed at her reaction. She loved that her friend could get so protective of her even though Oliver was a major person in this city. The brunette would definitely roundhouse kick him if she thought it was necessary, which both amused and scared Felicity daily. She patted Norah on the knee after putting away her coffee in its holder for a second.

"I chose to tell him so it's my fault, Norah. I didn't tell him everything, though. He thinks we've dated once and he stayed at mine afterwards, if you know what I mean."

The brunette raised her eyebrows and looked at Felicity pointedly. The blonde resisted looking back at her friend and kept her eyes on the road, reaching for her coffee again to avoid answering that look. It wasn't as if she had left out some huge truths. They had had sex once, then, but there had been no date before it. It was just… it came out of nowhere due to a lack of available single people around them, she concluded. She had been working all day and repressing all these thoughts about Oliver's godly body when they started talking and one thing led to another and then suddenly they were going at it like rabbits and he gave her his phone number if she ever wanted to have a go again.  
So Norah had bullied Felicity into calling, of course, and so he came by again. Then she figured she could do it alone, rang him and asked him if he dealt in sex on demand. That was obviously where she slapped a hand against her mouth and stumbled an apology and he had laughed for some minutes. Surprisingly, though, he said he'd damn well give it a try, and that's all.

There wasn't any more to it, as of yet, but she doubted that it would get complicated in the near future. Sure, the guy laughed at her antics, but he didn't make her laugh nearly as much. They didn't have anything in common, nor was he really interested in her. He was the kind of guy that went straight for the good parts, which was good in this situation, Felicity pondered, but not what she wanted in a relationship. She liked things to go slow so she could understand what was happening. Or at least she did not want to jump into bed with the guy the first night. Her theory was: if you're going slow, you know how to appreciate the good things in life. Like red wine. If you went straight for the finish line, you were either only thinking about yourself or you didn't really care about the process at all, like how some guys clucked down good beer. For a fling, it did not really matter which of the two, though. A fling was a fling. Norah prompted her out of her musings.

"You lied to him? Interesting. You never lie to people," Norah noted. _If you only knew_, Felicity thought_._ "But seriously though, you get to make your own choices, however you want them. Who is he to criticize you anyway? He slept with the whole Lance family!"

The blonde gave Norah a quick reprimanding look that silenced any further bad mouthing. Obediently, her best friend stopped talking.

"I'm not saying he is amazing," Felicity admitted. "I am still angry about being called a slut. But I can't shake the feeling that he has a point. I _am_ more of the relationship kind of girl, not the one-night stand kind of girl."

Her best friend rolled her eyes.

"If you are a slut, my dear, what does that make of the rest of the city?"

Felicity turned another corner and sighed quietly. Maybe Norah was right and maybe the whole rolling in the hay together thing did sometimes give her a boost of self-confidence, but she was still having some serious second doubts about this whole friends-with-benefits thing.

* * *

When Diggle turned up at her work halfway through that morning, she knew something was up. Or rather, that something Arrow-related was happening. He sauntered through the door of her shared office workspace and sat down on her desk next to her, looking around the room. It was completely empty, not a worker to be seen. Holidays, work at other locations: Felicity had no clue where they were.

"Hello, Felicity," he said cheerfully. Felicity groaned again. "Not a good morning?"

"What is it with people being lively in the morning? Do you not need tons of coffee before you can even resemble a normal façade," she complained.

Diggle tilted his head and shook his head. He couldn't help but grin at her questions.

"I will never understand how you work," he said. "Always positive but only voicing it after noon, is that it?"

Not that far off, actually. She was just not a morning person: that was something she could at least be certain of.

"C'mon Dig, she's just not a morning person," a low, amused voice behind Diggle noted.

A small sound escaped her due to surprise. She recognized that voice way too easily.

"Oliver," she wondered aloud.

Oliver walked out from behind Diggle and looked at her. When their eyes met, Felicity was instantly reminded of his comment about sleeping in the nude and she shut her eyes, feeling a blush coming on. Shit, shit _shit_. So not the way to go. Plus, she was angry at him. Why was she thinking of him naked. Come on, Felicity, get a grip.

"Good morning, Felicity," Oliver answered pleasantly.

"Coffee," Diggle asked, turning around and grabbing a cup of coffee out of nowhere. She accepted it with a happy sound and sipped on it as she observed the two of them in front of her. Diggle seemed to feel a bit guilty about bringing Oliver with him, judging by his crossed arms and glances between Oliver and Felicity. She wasn't going to ease his suffering for him, though. Let him suffer. He deserved it.

"I didn't know you liked your coffee black sometimes," Oliver mentioned as he pulled a chair from behind a desk to sit down in front of her desk.

Felicity threw her hand in the air while she put down her coffee with her other hand.

"I could write a book with things you don't know but I doubt it will get us anywhere: you would be too stubborn to even look inside," she answered haughtily, loudly tapping some codes on her keyboard to log herself in. She turned to Oliver again, sipping her coffee and facing his glare without a twitch. "But I like that the roles have been reversed and _you_'ve brought _me_ coffee."

Oliver's glare intensified. Diggle cleared his throat and announced that he needed to go to the bathroom and that he thought it was best if they discuss any lingering problems when he was gone. Felicity fixed him a glare and mouthed words to him, pulling her thumb across her neck. _I will get you_ _for this_.

When Diggle was gone, Felicity refused to look at Oliver for a long time. She kept focusing on the screen and tapping on the keyboard and Oliver kept looking at her. It was like a circle with no end and it was irritating Felicity because she was trying to keep her nervousness at bay and her word vomit in but she was failing fast. Oliver, however, seemed to have no problem with waiting it out. Damn him. Damn him and his ways.

Finally, she stopped typing and turned his way. She stared at him.

"Why are you here? You have nothing to look for, here," she asked.

"That's not true. I've got you here, don't I," he replied easily.

"Yes, you _do_," she replied sensually before she could stop herself. She closed her eyes, directed her head down at her desk and started massaging her temple with her right hand. She groaned and breathed out her next words. "I swear my brain needs obedience training."

The vigilante smiled at her commentary and remembered why he came to see her. Felicity was having trouble focusing on anything because she was too busy looking at her desk and willing her face to cool off before she could resemble any form of normalcy towards her boss and friend.

"I'm here because I am meeting Isabel Rochev about giving up the house, but we stopped by because I needed to talk to you first."

"You're having a meeting with your one-nightstand-that-helps-Slade in here and you didn't think to tell me? Do you _want_ to die?"

"We're meeting in front of the whole board. It should be fine."

"Last time you met her in a building full of people and that didn't end 'fine'," Felicity pointed out.

Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose and took a few seconds to let both of them calm down. When he opened his eyes again, Felicity's eyes zeroed in on them. Truth be told, they were rather beautiful. A force of nature, if you will. Figuratively speaking, of course. She doubted eyes had a lot of strength.

She looked away again.

"I'm here to apologize, Felicity."

That made her head jump back up again and stare at him. That was not something she had expected. Not at all. Oliver smiled at her and looked at the hands in his lap before looking back up again.

"I said something offensive. You are not, by any means, a slut or a girl with loose morals. You are a respectable woman, positive, knowledgeable and amusing," he stated.

Felicity closed her mouth again, but couldn't help widening her eyes at the statement. She had never actually thought Oliver would have realized he said something wrong. Usually she would just sneer at him a few times, he might confront her and show her he was right and then it was done. Today, however, he had actually apologized to Felicity. She was still staring at him, she realized, but she couldn't stop. He was looking back at her, a sincere look on his face. His eyes radiated honesty and she couldn't just go on like it never happened. She had to answer.

She thought about what she should answer, what was eloquent enough for such a situation.

"Apology accepted," she answered. Oh well, it served its purpose.

That made Oliver smile genuinely, teeth and dimples and all. Felicity smiled back in a sort of drunken stupor, losing herself in his twinkling eyes and radiating smile. She thought about how close he had stood a few days ago and how it had made her feel hot and cold at the same time, excited and interested at the feel of his lips on hers. But she really shouldn't be thinking about that. She really shouldn't be thinking about his low voice as he spoke to her when he was standing so close. Nor about how he mentioned he slept in the nude. She really shouldn't. But that ship had sailed, now.

"Good," Oliver answered, standing up. Felicity was shaken out of her reverie and stood, as well.

The blonde made her way to the front of the desk and sat down on it in front of him, wondering about what else she could say.

"I… I mean it wasn't that bad," she conceded. "I had been thinking the same thing, actually. But then I realized that maybe it wasn't all bad, so I decided that I'm not a slut to myself because I am not that way. But if your definition is different, I guess I could be a slut for you – oh god," she stopped herself. Oliver did a double take on what he'd heard. "I said to you. _To you_. Erase whatever you thought you heard… Three…Two…One… Anyway, it comes down to the fact that I understand what you meant and what you said was actually more of a compliment than offensive, because the relationship kind of girl is the better one of the two, in my eyes."

Oliver's eyes twinkled again. In amusement, this time. A grin made its way to the surface.

"Don't worry, I'm not really taking sides. That would make me a bit of a hypocrite."

Felicity nodded after he said that and then suddenly pointed at him enthusiastically.

"Did you know that I used to spell that H-I-P-P-O-C-R-I-T-E? I didn't know any better until I was seventeen. Always wondered what it had to do with hippos. I thought maybe they were hippocrites because my mom used to say they were very dangerous but they look very cute and as a result, I thought that hippocritical meant that people were being contradictory. I used to draw teachers I didn't understand as hippos when I tried to draw everyone in the class. Same with the people I didn't understand. There were quite a lot actually. I think there's one drawing where only five out of fifteen are not hippos. Maybe it was because I always liked hip-," she said, but broke herself off when Oliver leaned over and put his hands on the table next to her.

His face was confused but then she bit her lip, trying to calm her nerves. That tingling feeling sparked to life throughout her whole body and she could feel her stomach turning over and over in her gut. Oliver saw her bite her lip and clenched his fists on the table, keeping himself from kissing those lips. Her lip-biting was driving him crazy and he didn't understand why. It had never been something of interest beforehand, so why would it now?

He leaned up and his hand followed to hold her face still. She gasped, marveling at the touch of his hand on her face. Regardless of all that bow and arrow work, they still managed to be soft. She leaned into his touch when his thumb started drawing soothing circles on her temple. She wondered if he realized he was doing it. He was staring at her and she stared up at him. She was mapping his face and she yearned to touch his stubble. The air was growing thicker and thicker and Felicity was finding it harder to breathe. His smell was intoxicating, the proximity of his body to hers without touching a torture. After a few seconds of standing like that, Oliver leaned forward and pushed his lips against her forehead. Something he had done a million times to Thea.

This time was different, though. He had meant it to feel like it did with Thea. But the second he put his lips against her forehead, he wished he was kissing her lips instead. He knew, though, that he couldn't. It wouldn't be fair and _this_ might not even be considered fair by some. But he really couldn't help it: sometimes she was just too cute. The way her arms flailed when she told him a story, the way she randomly associated things, her sneering at him and telling him the truth, her accepting his apology without thinking… All of that had just been adding up in his head and he had to stop her before he would come to any conclusions and so he kissed her on the forehead.

After a minute or so, he pulled back and watched her as he took a step back. Felicity knew she was blushing by the way that she thought her head was going to explode. Oliver let her face go and watched as she righted her face again and opened her eyes again in wonder. It was not at all logical to her why he'd kissed her forehead and she was trying to unravel the secrets by looking deep into his eyes, but he looked away. He looked away and at his hand, which had been on her face a few seconds ago. She could feel the places where he had touched her giving off electric sparks and her nerve endings standing on end. While she felt her whole body tingle due to the electric sparks, she smiled at Oliver.

Oliver himself looked rather awestruck and had not moved yet, until now. He coughed and looked at her, returning her genuine smile with his own.

"Thanks for forgiving me that easily," he said.

A raw feeling of disappointment stabbed through her force field of electricity. She looked away from his face to her hands, with which she was fiddling in her lap. It was a thanks? No, it couldn't have been. It felt like more. It felt like way more.

She raised her head, deciding to ask him after it, only to find him gone from his place in front of her. He was standing at the entrance now, looking from outside the office to her a few times. Then he seemed to have decided and looked at her steadily.

"Hey, I was thinking, you feel like going to the Big Belly Burger with me and Digg? What do you say, John?"

Diggle appeared behind him, winking at Felicity.

"I'm always in for extra company," he replied. "See you tonight, Felicity."

Felicity watched Diggle turn and walk towards the elevators towards the right.

"I," she started, then cleared her throat and started again, "I guess so."

"Right, see you there at eight," Oliver called from the entrance, smiling again. He gave her a little wave as he took a few steps outside the office. "I need to go to Isabel, see you later."

When they had gone out of sight, she sat down behind her desk and banged her head on the desk repeatedly. What shitty deity had she offended to deserve these kind of situations? A man she had sex with but no feelings for and a man that was driving her crazy but she would in no way ever be close to.

She had no idea but she sure hoped it wasn't Cupid, with the way things were going now.

Shit shit shit _shit_.

* * *

**A/N: Poor girl. Poor Felicity.**

**So I went for a longer plan of action because I was actually quite enjoying myself. So I guess it'll be a multichapter fic.**

**I hope you guys like Norah, at least I did. She's based on one of my original characters in a story that I'm writing.**

**Anyway!**

**If you feel like giving me feedback, feel free to review or PM me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Right! So, Hi everyone!**

**I am still honored to be somewhere on your alert/ follow list and am extremely happy ~!**

**NEXT TO THAT HAVE YOU SEEN THAT FINALE**

**I swear to god, I am now an emotionally traumatized teenage girl. ****One of my male mates that watches Arrow (not a 'shipper) even texted me "AARGH WHY DIDNT HE KISS HER?! WHAT? HE SAID I LOVE YOU, FUCK HIM WITH ACTING AS IF THAT WAS A PERFORMANCE" ****And I agree wholeheartedly with my eloquent friend. **

**But then I thought, hey well I ship it either way. PLUS THERES ALWAYS FANFICTION**

_Btw there's smut in this one. Just a teensy bit._

**Disclaimer: Yeah so no I dont own it or otherwise the finale of season 2 would have ended in a snog fest.**

* * *

_Chapter Three_

_x_

She flopped down unceremoniously on her seat across from Diggle and Oliver, disappointed that their food wasn't there yet. Her bathroom trip had been uneventful, however, so she listened to Diggle explain about how he was moving stuff around in his apartment.

She looked around in the shop. It had been a long time since she had been here. A long time before she got there again, as well. After Oliver had apologized to her, shit had gone down with Isabel again and he had been injured. Good news being that Isabel had finally left the building (ding dong the witch is gone), bad news being that they had had to opt for eating in. Oliver insisted, however, that they go in a few days, when he would be able to walk. So here they were. She remembered the shop quite well. It was where she first told Oliver she trusted him.

It looked worse than before. That was a given, though, seeing as the Undertaking had left its traces everywhere in the city. She glanced at the table near the window where she'd been talking to Oliver. Staring at it, she remembered working for Walter Steele in the good old days and then being worried for him in the lesser days. Back then she had thought Oliver was a lazy rich brat that she had to respect because of his affiliation to the company. Also, she thought he was rather beautiful. Now, she knew better on some fronts. Irritatingly, nothing had changed in the looks-department, though.

"Felicity?"

She was pulled away from her thoughts by the man himself. She arched her eyebrows slowly. Why was he looking like that? Her attention was grabbed by the woman that stood next to their table, looking at her expectantly. Diggle was doing something with his phone in the left corner. Maybe he was texting Lyla, something he had started doing with a scary frequency. The woman coughed and Felicity finally snapped out of it.

"Oh, sorry."

She moved her elbow away so the woman could put her food down in front of her. Their drinks would come along soon, she assured them. Felicity took a bite of her Chili Cheese French fries and made an appreciative sound as she tasted it. When she looked up from her food, Oliver was looking at her strangely. He had a reserved look but at the same eyes, his eyes seemed intent on watching her face. She stared back at him, trying to make him turn away from looking at her eat. In all honesty, she didn't fare well when being looked at whilst eating. It usually resulted in stains on her clothing.

When Oliver didn't look away, she harrumphed and ate another few fries. She smiled appreciatively and made the same sound, meanwhile trying to tell the two others that they should try it. They had looked at her a bit strangely when she ordered Chili Cheese fries, but they would not know food-heaven if it was right in front of them. So she pushed her plate towards them, and both Diggle and Oliver took a fry. It only took a few seconds for them to decide that, yes, it was rather good.

"I'll have you know it's a big hit in the UK. My best friends' mother is British, so that's how I know it."

"Your best friends' mother likes them, then," Oliver inquired.

She nodded, her ponytail dancing up and down behind her.

"Yeah, Norah's mom has a knack for cooking anyway, so she used to make this for us sometimes when we were little. The Big Belly Burger is the only place where they seem to know it, so I try to remember to order it when I'm here. Norah's mum is nowhere near Starling City, so I have to make do."

Diggle tilted his head.

"Is that where her accent comes from? Her mother?"

Oliver turned to Diggle.

"You've met her?"

Diggle nodded and pointed at Felicity.

"They sometimes commute when Felicity works at Queen Consolidated. I sometimes picked Felicity up before our shift started as your driver and secretary," Diggle said. Felicity mumbled something about bad times darkly. He continued his sentence after giving her a look. "And picking up Norah was mandatory. Felicity wouldn't go if we didn't pick her up."

A look of surprise formed on Oliver's face. She wondered if he had thought she had no other friends than them. A bit of a naïve conclusion, she thought, but then she could be a bit socially awkward. Or maybe he wondered why he had never met her.

"Does she work at Queen Consolidated?"

She shook her head at his inquisitive look.

"No, she's a lawyer. She worked right next door, but we thought it was a smart way to talk to each other daily and to save money. She's my best friend so we still try to commute whenever I am called back to the office. She's from my hometown. And yeah, Digg, that's what you might be hearing."

Oliver whistled. Diggle seemed to think about her statement, then nod. She was probably right, then. After nodding, John grabbed his phone and started texting.

"Digg, be social will you? You've been gawking at that screen the whole night. I am the tech nerd here, _you_ are supposed to be dragging _me _away from modern technology, not the other way around," Felicity complained. After watching Diggle try to wrench his gaze away from the screen and failing, she mused on: "What is it with men and their toys, anyway?"

That made Oliver chuckle. But he didn't disagree, though, so he nudged Diggle's shoulder. John grunted something about finishing a text, so Oliver rolled his eyes and went back to what Felicity had said.

"Well, it's like women with shoes," he said, eyeing Felicity's pumps from his side of the table.

"You buy 'em cheap and act expensive?"

"No," Oliver answered, weirded out a bit.

"Oh," Felicity answered, put out. She mumbled, then. "No because you don't buy cheap do you."

Oliver raised one eyebrow.

"I thought we were talking about men and women in general," he asked.

Felicity smiled innocently at that.

"I was, weren't you?"

Diggle groaned from the side, putting his phone away.

"Can you guys not make something into an argument or battle, for once? Can we just relax and talk like normal people?"

Oliver and Felicity both looked ashamed and nodded. Oliver decided to try again.

"About Norah," he said, "I remember me and Tommy used to walk to school together until we both got cars. It was nice."

Felicity rolled her eyes and wanted to reply to that, but zipped her lips after a silencing look from Diggle. She decided to say something different.

"How old were you two when you met?"

Oliver looked at his food, lost in thoughts for a second. When he looked up again, their eyes found each other effortlessly.

"I think I was eight."

She nodded her head in agreement.

"Same age for me and Norah. I couldn't imagine losing her like you did Tommy," she said. She realized how hard she had phrased that, and felt guilty for it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."

Oliver shook his head.

"I understand. I still can't really imagine it either, some days."

Felicity was about to reply to that when there was a ringing sound from next to her and a splash. Then there was only a cold, wet substance, and the sound of glass shattering next to her. She tried to make a whole sentence but the only thing she could do was splutter and try to open her eyes, which was not working because the substance was all _over_ her.

"Gah," she eloquently cried out.

"Oh my god," a woman wailed next to her. "I'm so, so sorry! I'll go get some tissues and rags."

The woman left and Felicity had no clue as to what was happening and what had happened. She lifted her hands to rub the area around her eyes clean, but she was ordered not to by Oliver. He was standing next to her, apparently.

"Don't move. There might be glass," he demanded.

Felicity whined and sat still, eyes still closed. From her left side she felt one hand hold her face and one other wiping at her eyes until they deemed it safe.

"All done," John said.

She opened her eyes and looked down. _No_. She wailed. Her beautiful work outfit, bought the other day (a wide skirt and cardigan above it), had been stained by a glass of coke. Which had, by the looks of it, shattered on the table and half landed in her lap and half on the ground. Felicity closed her eyes and slumped back in her seat. _Nice one, Smoak_.

"Well, that's just awesome," she growled.

Oliver moved closer to her.

"Turn your head this way," he said. Felicity complied. "There's glass in your hair."

She watched his dark green shirt as he picked out the pieces of glass from her hair. Beside her, Diggle was trying to get all the shards off her skirt without offending her but really, at this point, she didn't care. Oliver went about his business, as did Diggle, and she felt warm, taken care of. It was a nice feeling.

Halfway through her VIP treatment by her friends, the waitress came by and gave them a big fat apology, promised her a new glass of coke and said she could get her a shirt to wear. Felicity took one look at the shirt the woman was wearing and gracefully denied. She wanted to get home, change into her own clothes and sit on her couch.

"No, we'd like our food in a bag, please. We'll eat at home," Oliver said pleasantly. _Good_.

The woman complied and Felicity stood when the men deemed it safe. She walked towards the exit, opting for not wearing her coat rather than wearing it. No use getting stains on that as well. Outside under the extended roof, she stopped and waited for the two. Diggle was the first one out.

"Did you bring a car," he asked as he walked outside, zipping up his jacket. Felicity shook her head and kicked at an imaginary stone on the pavement. "No problem, we took Oliver's car. We'll head to the foundry with that, then."

She looked up at that and thought of her wet clothing. She looked at the rain all around them and inside at Oliver talking to the waiter about the check. In all honesty, she did not feel like being in the foundry. It was rather cold there, she had no spare clothes and it wasn't homey at all.

"Dig, do you think we could go to my place? I want to change," she asked, pointing at her outfit. Then she shrugged. "We could eat there as well, it's easier and homier."

Diggle nodded.

"Should be fine. I don't think Oliver's ever been your place so he might be interested to see it."

"Don't remind me, it's a pig sty right now," she complained.

"What is a pig sty," Oliver asked, walking out of the restaurant. Diggle gave her a pointed look, hinting that she had to ask herself.

"Nothing. Can we go to my place instead of the foundry? That is not to say that my place is better than the foundry, but I was just thinking. Although obviously the foundry is not as homey as we'd all like nor does it have a lovely couch to sit on. You should definitely think about a couch. Anyway, I have no clothes there and I need to change," she rambled.

Oliver looked at the rain in front of them and nodded.

"I'll get the car."

Felicity looked after him in surprise as he ran to his black Audi that was parked to the right and drove it to the front of the restaurant. That went way easier than most things were with Oliver. Maybe he did really want to see her apartment.

Diggle, always the gentleman, opened her door for her when they had run over to the car with an umbrella and then got in himself. Felicity got in the back and tried not to think about in how much of a disarray her flat was right now as they got closer. The first time she would have Oliver in her flat and it was in a proper state. That was not how she wanted him to see it. She shook her head at the thought. As if there was any other time he might've seen it. Oliver was her friend, her boss, _nothing more_. This whole situation with him kissing her forehead and telling her about his sleeping habits was messing with her head. It was exactly what she had wanted to avoid, exactly the reason she had Mr. White Wine.

Not that she had seen him in the last four days. Not that she had called him, even. But that was not the point.

Sighing, Felicity turned her gaze to the window to watch the city fly by her, again. She should really call him again and get rid of all these thoughts.

* * *

The elevator doors of her flat opened and they crowded inside. Felicity pressed the button for the fourth floor. The familiar lurch of her stomach towards the floor followed and the elevator lounge music started playing. A song by the Spice Girls. Diggle was grinning and Felicity started mouthing along with the words. _What_, it was a good song.

She chanced a look in Oliver's direction and saw he was looking at her with an amused face. Promptly, she dropped her lines and ignored Oliver's smirk. When they heard the dinging sound that signified their arrival, they left the elevator and were faced by a small row of doors in front of them. All pristine white, all with golden numbers on them. The one in front of them was 198 and Felicity opened the door without difficulty and walked inside.

She tossed her keys in the fruit bowl on the stand to the right of the front door and hung her coat on the coat rack next to it. Oliver and John followed her example and Oliver stood still after he turned around. Felicity walked on, passing through a big archway to the right. She was heading to the kitchen to get plates and cutlery as he curiously took in his surroundings. Felicity's flat was colorful, but not too much so. He was standing in a hallway that was painted in a creamy color of white with pristine white doors. All the furniture was wooden and there was a deep pink, almost purple, carpet on the floor. The hallway had four doors and a big arch towards the living room.

He walked into the living room and was happily surprised by the interior in front of him. The walls here were the same creamy white. Not too colorful but not hospital-white either. He could see now that the door he had been seeing was the one to his right, towards another room, not the front door. Probably some kind of shed, considering its placement next to the hallway.

To his right were the large half round windows he had seen from outside. The furniture, however, was different. The couch was, of course, brown, as were her comfy chairs and the big cupboard in the corner that undoubtedly held the TV and above that, her DVD collection. The coffee table, however, was a pleasant turquoise as was the dinner table that was right across from him, attached to the left wall of the living room. The chairs around it were the same dark brown and the table was littered with papers. Against the right wall, in-between the three windows, were large bookcases with numerous books, also in a dark brown.

Just after the kitchen table on the left there was a desk with two screens and a place for her laptop and to the right there was a door to her balcony. Instead of having the kitchen and the living room separated, Felicity had knocked open the wall to the kitchen at the back of the living room and had made a big archway towards a pretty but messy kitchen. He could not see all of it, but he could see a deep pink coming through on the walls there, mixing nicely with the dark brown accents used in the kitchen. The carpet on the floor was the same creamy white as the walls.

Oliver took off his shoes, as did Diggle, and followed Felicity. The room was not at all as messy as she had remembered, which pleased Felicity. _Although, they weren't in her bedroom, thank god. _

Still, she hoped both men liked the apartment. Although she already knew Diggle did.

She put the plates she had grabbed down on the table and walked back to the kitchen for cutlery. By the time she got back, Oliver was checking her book collection out and Diggle had grabbed the bag with the food and had, as always, made himself at home in one of her comfy chairs. She put down the plates and cutlery on the coffee table and grabbed the bag with food from John's lap. She put it on the table as she sat down on her couch.

Then, she stood up, remembering the stains of coke on her get-up and moved away from the couch.

"Oh, right. I'm taking a quick shower and changing, can you two fend for yourselves and eat while I'm gone?"

"You're not joining," Oliver asked.

"Yes, but later. I can't bear this sticky stuff on me and I wouldn't want it on my couch."

"Fair enough," John agreed. Oliver nodded.

"Good, then I'll see you in a minute," she said.

She hurried off and Oliver grabbed his plate, following Diggle's example.

* * *

When Felicity had left, Diggle moved his chair so he could look at the chair and Oliver easily.

"Do you like it," he asked.

Oliver looked around in the apartment, starting to smile.

"It is very Felicity. I wouldn't have guessed beforehand but it fits," he answered.

Diggle nodded, seemingly amused.

"She's changed around the furniture, you know. The couch used to be in the far corner and the table over here but I told her it was better to change it around."

Oliver looked at Diggle suspiciously.

"You've been here before?"

Diggle nodded, grabbing a plate and starting on his hamburger.

"When I had to pick her up."

The vigilante seemed to think that was enough of an explanation and looked around again for signs of other people in Felicity's life. Above her dinner table she had stuck loads of pictures to the wall, but he couldn't see from where he was seated. Would he be on one of them? Was he counted amongst her friends?

He looked at the windows and at the building across from them. Would friends check if their friend got home safely? _Yes_, a voice in his subconscious said. Right, true. But then, did they get angry when the friend started dating someone? _Only if it meant that other man could have brought them home_, the voice answered. That was not exactly what had happened with him, however. He looked around and remembered that this was the couch the two of them had been sitting on. He clenched the hand that was free. He mentally started beating up the man who had the guts to treat Felicity like a shop, coming and going when he felt like it.

"Something on your mind," Diggle asked. Oliver was startled out of his thoughts by the question and looked at Diggle's knees for some time.

"Felicity's been seeing that guy regularly," he shared, looking away from John and glaring at the window in front of him.

"I know," Diggle answered.

His head whipped back to look back at John's face. John was calmly eating his French fries and looked up when he heard the shower starting somewhere in the flat. He smiled at Oliver.

"You knew," Oliver barked.

Diggle shrugged.

"I thought you were trying to talk with her more," he retorted.

Oliver groaned and leaned his head back against the couch.

"I - We are! She told me all about him and I mostly called her a slut on accident and we were supposed to go to the Big Belly Burger to make up for it but now that all went wrong. I think she forgave me when I apologized, but I promised her a nice night and now this happened."

The dark-skinned man chuckled. Oliver ate a few fries as he listened to his friend's reply.

"Maybe you should wrap your head around the fact that things with Felicity usually don't go as planned. She's not some easy girl you can drag everywhere, she bites if she doesn't want to do something, she is wickedly smart and she attracts bad luck. I have always taken it the way it went and so has she. She knows how to handle mishaps and sudden changes of plan." Oliver seemed to think about that for a moment, tilting his head this way and that. Diggle continued. "Anyway, what about this guy?"

Oliver growled. Diggle finished his burger.

"I've seen him from across the street a few times. He has no respect for her at all, just goes straight for the action. She said it was just the first time, but he's more of a friends-with-benefits than anything else."

His friend put down his empty plate and stretched.

"Well, she doesn't have time for more, does she? I train her, Roy does research with her, you kind of come by in between… We keep her at the foundry 'til late every day." Oliver grunted at that, finishing his food and putting down his plate as well. Diggle tried not to smile as he continued, but Oliver could easily catch on. "Are you irritated that she's found a guy?"

He shook his head and looked at the couch for a moment or two, thinking. Was he really bothered by the fact that Felicity had found a guy? Maybe not as much with the fact that she had found _a_ guy, but the fact that she had found one who did not _deserve_ her. Felicity deserved attention, hugs, dates, jokes and gifts every now and then. Not some kind of sex buddy. That was Ollie's thing, not Oliver's and not Felicity's.

"I'm just irritated that she is degrading herself."

Diggle snorted.

"She's not degrading herself, she just doesn't _have time_ for more. Besides, maybe she has given up hope for what she really wants, a real relationship or something else, for something easier."

Oliver looked at the empty plates in front of him and shook his head.

"It's still bothering me."

Diggle smiled.

"It's okay to be bothered. Just remember that we all sacrifice some things, sometimes even chances with people, for our cause. Felicity is no different."

"But Sara didn't just run towards some random man, did she?"

His friend raised an eyebrow at him.

"But she didn't make new friends either, because she didn't want to burden anyone with being a target to get to her," Diggle pointed out. He was quiet for a second. Then: "How are you two anyway?"

Oliver growled.

"Next subject," he tried. Diggle laughed. Oliver gave up when Diggle continued staring at him. "We're okay but… we've had some arguments the last few weeks. I confronted her with not wanting to get out of the island mindset, not wanting to grow, the other day. She said it wasn't necessary."

Diggle seemed lost in thought for a second. It did not strike Oliver as odd, because Diggle was older and had more experience with women in long-term, serious relationships. He had, after all, been married.

"She has to grow out of it, Oliver. Or she will never be able to settle down. Don't you want that? Settle down when all this is over, stop the fighting?"

Settle down with Sara? Not the first thought that would pop into his mind, but he could see how she would be a wonderful mom. Him and her raising children together, however… that was not something he had ever thought about. Probably because it was best not to, with their occupation.

"I've never given it any thought before. I don't have the luxury to think about the future. No time."

Diggle gave him a contemplative look and then looked around in the apartment.

"Well, if you don't, why should Felicity? She's living in the moment just as much as we are." That got Oliver silent. He leaned back against the couch, baffled by his own hypocritical thinking. Diggle wasn't done, though. "Unless, of course, you don't have a problem with her having a random sex friend, but you have a problem with her having a romantic interest as a concept."

Oliver closed his mouth at that and glared at his good friend. The implications that that statement had were too big to even answer the question. That didn't mean, however, that he couldn't think about it.

Was he irritated by the idea of the man existing itself?

It was safe to say that by now, he was more irritated by either that or the lack of courtesy Felicity was getting from said man. It was nonsense to feign ignorance, Oliver knew what he felt when he saw the man walk into Felicity's apartment. Just the other night, he'd slammed a hole in the chimney of the building across from this place. It must be jealousy, it couldn't be anything else. That didn't make sense, though. He knew Felicity was a good friend and an adorable, hilarious and remarkable woman, but jealousy would mean he liked her. But he liked Sara.

He couldn't, however, envision a future with Sara. With Felicity… with Felicity it might work. He could see them settling down in this apartment, living here for a long time and marrying at some point… no barriers like paparazzi, since he had lost most of his money now Isabel had stripped him of everything. The idea made him smile a bit. The only thing was, he was with Sara. His girlfriend that refused to grow, get out of fight-mode.

Oliver grumbled. Things were not going well with Sara, he'd be the first to admit. But he had asked her to get an apartment and he was serious about her. At least, that's what he had been thinking. Diggle's comment about Sara not finding new friends because they would become target was a valid point. It was definitely something Sara would do. So did that mean she was with him because she couldn't find anyone better?

Oliver shook his head.

No, Sara would never consciously do something like that. Unconsciously, however, there was a world to explore. He sighed. He would have to start making decisions, and soon. Maybe he could let Diggle watch Felicity while she walked home for a few days, so he could talk things through with Sara. Yeah, that might be a good decision.

He heard the shower stopping in the background.

"Hey, John, could you do me a favor and…"

* * *

The blonde IT-specialist unlocked the door to her bedroom from the bathroom and threw her ruined outfit in the laundry basket. She had worn most of her clothing already and had not had time to do laundry yet, so the basked was rather full. When she searched through what was left, however, she found some jeans and a wide shirt with a very low back. Not the best thing to wear for a comfortable evening at home, she pondered. Oh well, it would have to do. She could always turn up the heat. She brushed a comb through her hair and decided to leave it hanging instead of pulling it in another ponytail.

She turned up the thermostat a bit when she left her room and walked back into the living room. Diggle was telling Oliver about his and Lyla's history, a story she had already heard. Without making a sound, she walked in and sat down on the couch next to Oliver, grabbing her plate. One of the two had already made it up for her and she was thankful so she smiled warmly at both of them when they looked her way. She tasted a fry, decided it was too cold and walked over to the kitchen to put it in the microwave. When she walked away, Diggle whistled after her.

"Better watch out Miss Smoak, we might get the wrong idea," he called after her, pointing towards her shirt.

"Statistically speaking that wrong idea gives you a 33.33 per cent chance to get hit by lightning," she answered, walking backwards. She held up her hands. "Just something to think about."

"Let's say… when you look like this, it might be worth the risk," Oliver added with a teasing smile that made her blush.

When her food was warm again, she returned with a smile and munched on a fry as she gestured to Diggle to go on.

"…so basically, we know each other from the military, we got married while in the military and divorced when we got back."

Felicity sat down on the couch next to Oliver, propping a pillow between them to put her arm on. She played with the French fries on her plate as Diggle ended his story. Oliver was nodding understandingly and leaning back in his seat as he ate. Felicity looked at him, watching how easily he blended in with his new surroundings. He seemed comfortable, something that made her happy to see. She valued comfort. She also valued style, but comfort was her first demand in most situations. Maybe that was because she was always very uncomfortable everywhere else but home. Overall, though, she chose for a mix of the two: it fit her better than just one of the two.

Bored, Felicity asked John a question about Lyla that came up immediately when she thought about her.

"Why are you constantly texting her these days," she asked.

Diggle snickered.

"Why, are you jealous?"

Oliver's head snapped his way. John smirked at him.

"No, just interested," she admitted, peering at Oliver's head curiously.

Diggle shook his head with a smile.

"Nah, we've been looking for the man Deadshot killed my brother for. She believes she has a possible name and she is keeping me up to date."

Felicity tilted her head at that and stared outside her window. She sighed softly.

"Don't you guys ever get tired of wanting to avenge people?" Both men looked at her, arched eyebrows and all. "I mean, all that hate."

"I don't hate, Felicity," Oliver remarked. "I leave feelings outside of it."

Felicity nodded.

"You maybe," she answered, touching his arm shortly. Then she pointed at John. "But he doesn't."

Diggle avoided answering for a second, looking away. Then, he shrugged.

"It takes time and energy, sure, but it's something I just do. It's not even an option to let it go, it pops back into my head any time I try to stop."

It made sense. A family member was so close to you, it wouldn't make sense to not feel personally assaulted if your brother was murdered.

"I guess I _understand_ what you mean. I don't _know_ what you mean, because I obviously have not been in that situation, but I guess I understand. And don't get me wrong, I count my lucky stars I am not in your situation. Not that it is that bad. It's just, I might not have made it. I'm not nearly as strong as you two are."

Oliver snorted. She glanced at him and saw that he was watching her closely. She looked back at him and saw that he was frowning, as if she had done something wrong. He gestured to her as he started to talk.

"You're the brains of this operation, Felicity. You're the one that makes possible what we do, so when you say you're not as strong… my only thought is that you can be if you want to be, easily."

"Yeah, same," Diggle agreed. That surprised Felicity. "Plus," Diggle added. "I don't know anyone who tells Oliver the truth as much as you do. That takes guts, the way you confront him."

"Hey!"

Oliver held his chest as if he felt wounded. John and Felicity laughed and high fived soon after. Oliver smiled at both of them and Felicity felt her heart falter for a second when their eyes met. When he looked away again, she looked away quickly, feeling guilty.

Oliver was oblivious, however. He stretched and draped his arm behind her on the couch, making her squirm in her seat. Diggle was smirking and winking at her, which irritated her. _John Diggle, make yourself useful for once and get me out of this situation for once_. She glared at him fiercely.

But of course he didn't. He sat there and watched them without saying anything. Oliver, of course, was blissfully ignorant and looking at the view from her window.

Felicity felt her blush lessen slowly and started eating her fries again. _Dear lord, these things were good_. She closed her eyes happily.

Diggle grabbed the remote and turned on the news, which they watched for a bit. In the meantime, she ate the rest of her fries in silence and finished her burger. When she was done, she stood up and grabbed some of the plates, cutlery and rubbish to put it away. She walked to the kitchen and put down the plates on the kitchen counter. She chucked the trash in her trashcan. She turned around and walked around the kitchen towards the big archway to the living room, where she saw Oliver had picked up the rest and was walking towards her. Diggle was still watching the news.

She turned around, back to where the dishwasher was located. It was just out of view, to the right and across the kitchen when you walked in. She had made the archway somewhat to the left side of the kitchen, so she had enough room to be cooking and not be watched by guests constantly. She opened the dishwasher and started putting the plates and cutlery in. Oliver joined her in the kitchen and put his hand on the small of her back to push her to the side so he could pass. She jumped, not used to people touching her bare skin. Blushing profusely, she glared at Oliver. He wasn't looking at her, but she could see his smirk from where she was standing. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the plates he had put on the kitchen worktop. He must have an obsession with touching her bare back or something.

"I like your house, by the way," Oliver said. He was busy sorting trash and chucking stuff in the bin. "It's surprisingly much like what I pictured it to be. A combination of comfort and style."

Felicity glanced up at him for a second, but he was still chucking away trash.

"You've imagined what my apartment looks like?"

Oliver grunted.

"You can only observe a thing from the outside for so long before you wonder what's inside."

Felicity laughed at that.

"Serves you right for following me around," she said. "Did I take that long to get upstairs, then? That you got to worrying about the inside?"

Oliver turned around and shook his head.

"Nah, it's usually a split second thought," he said. Felicity continued putting the cutlery in the dishwasher. Behind her, she could hear the TV. "But sometimes I was surprised to see you had suddenly gained a flat mate."

Felicity blushed.

"You were," she asked, standing up and closing the dishwasher.

She dried her hands on a towel.

"I thought you said it was only once," Oliver said with a low voice, stepping closer.

Felicity nodded.

"I thought so, but things change," she said.

She was blushing, she could feel it. Not that she should feel ashamed for taking her life into her own hands. Come on, she was old enough to know what she was doing.

"I was wondering the other day, what's his name," Oliver asked.

Felicity's eyes jumped to his. His eyes had narrowed and he was looking angry. No way she was telling him anything like this.

"Tell you so you can put an arrow through him? No thanks," she answered grimly.

She turned away to walk back to the living room. Oliver grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She looked at their hands and then turned her eyes to him. He looked penitent, almost pouting at her. His eyes looked sad, as if he regretted his words.

"I wouldn't put an arrow through an innocent person," Oliver assured her. "I was just… wondering."

Felicity sighed and looked to the side. She couldn't refuse answering him when he had that kind of look on his face.

"Nice tone for wondering. Anyway, I don't want you guys to know his name," she said. She was wrecking her brain for a good reason to give his name. Ah. "He would only become a target when people need information from me. Nobody knows his name except for me."

Oliver clenched his jaw. God, this was not going to be an easy day for her, was it. She contemplated getting out some red wine from the immense wine rack behind her. It was the length of the whole wall and was mostly filled. Did she mention she liked red wine?

"Okay," Oliver agreed. "I can understand that. Are you planning to see him again, soon?"

She wanted to escape the tense atmosphere and tried to find a different subject. He seemed to be trying to get her to answer with telepathy, by the way he was staring, but she did not want to discuss this anymore. She glanced at the cupboard where she kept her wine glasses.

"Do you feel like red wine," she asked suddenly, desperate for a change of subject.

Oliver was startled out of his thoughts and followed her look to the cupboard. He looked back at her, glancing at the tall wine rack behind her.

"Felicity," he growled, realizing she was trying to change the subject.

"I have a 1999 Ch'Omez de Pez. Plus, you can still drive after one glass."

She jacked her thumb towards the wine rack behind her.

"As long as you tell me about this man, fine," he grumbled.

She walked past him to get three wineglasses out. She knew Diggle liked a bit of red wine as well, so he would have to deal. Oliver watched her, arms crossed, and was giving off a very annoyed vibe. Moving past him, she tried to ignore his obvious glare.

She reached for the bottle higher up the wine rack. The moment she touched the bottle, she felt a hand on the small of her back to steady her. She made a small sound and let the bottle fall back into the wine rack, surprised by his actions. Oliver held his hand on the small of her back and reached up himself to get it. He put the wine on the counter next to them and rubbed his thumb across the skin on her back in the process. Felicity moaned quietly and tried to get away, but Oliver stopped her. He turned around and looked at her while he rubbed his thumb across her back again.

She looked away, a light blush adorning her cheeks. She squirmed and made a little sound when he moved his whole hand. The small of her back was a very sensitive area and he had, without fail, found the right spot on her lower back immediately. Oliver grinned when he realized what had happened.

"What was that," he asked with a smirk.

"N-Nothing of importance," she stuttered.

Felicity tried to move away, but he followed and pushed her against the kitchen counter. She looked at him in surprise. What was this?

Curiosity swirled around in Oliver's eyes, making them sparkle and seem like he was up to something. He was radiating a heat that seeped into her body and bones and she felt her heart rate pick up as she realized that he had heard her little sounds and probably picked up on what it meant. Shit. She tried to take a big gulp of air, but only ended up smelling Oliver's scent when she did so. He smelled good. _Nononononono_. _Not this again._

_Biology, Felicity, it's just biology. Pheromones and X and Y's._

"I like your shirt, by the way," he drawled. "Do you wear it when your friend is here?"

Oliver's statement hung in the air, thickening the air and she had to answer with something witty to get out of the situation, but didn't know what. He smirked at her deer-caught-in-headlights look.

"It- I don't wear it at all."

_Well, so much for that._

"Shame," Oliver murmured, leaning closer and pushing her hair behind her ear with his other hand. He leaned in and whispering in her ear. "You have a _very_ pretty back, Miss Smoak."

When he said that, he scratched her lower back a bit and she bit her lip to stop the upcoming moan from escaping. Oliver noticed, however, and moved his free hand to her face, pulling her lip free with his thumb. He stepped even closer so their noses were almost touching, and scratched again while looking in her eyes. She moaned softly, trying to keep her eyes open and look at him in defiance, but was not able to do so and closed her eyes. She arched her back and threw her head back a bit.

Oliver chuckled and leaned towards her ear, his breath fanning over it.

"Why Felicity, you may have a thing for people touching your back," he breathed into her ear, before moving back to look in her eyes. He was smirking.

If looks could kill, he would be dead. Since they couldn't, however, he was not intimidated by Felicity in the slightest. He moved his hand up to her shoulders slowly, massaging her bare skin. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against his forehead, relishing in the feel and clenching her teeth together. A soft whining sound still made it to the surface, however.

When she opened her eyes, Oliver was closer than before. Neither of them moved back. She could count his lashes and see exactly where his iris ended and his pupil began, but that wasn't what she wanted right now. She yearned for more, but was hesitant to take it.

She felt lust swirl in her gut as she looked at his eyes, which were watching her with the same intention written all over them. Biting her lip, she leaned in towards him and put her hand on his hip, slipping her hands beneath his shirt to touch his side. He grunted and she felt her need to for him intensify.

Oliver took it out of her hands, however, because he leaned in and touched his lips to hers after smiling at her. He kissed her softly at first, then passionately after and cradled her head in his hand as he did so. She kissed back, enjoying the feel of his body and lips against hers. He fit against her like none of the guys she dated ever had and it made sense. She didn't understand why, but it made perfect sense. His lips were soft, his hands were soft and without fail, she knew that she was safe in his hold. She knew that he would never laugh at her or not take her seriously. It just made sense and it set her on fire.

Her whole body was overflowing with the warmth, sparks flying everywhere. Her back was a source of constant jolts of electricity as they kissed, making her squirm and moan in his hold. She was trying to keep quiet, but it wasn't working that well.

When the need for air became too big, she stopped kissing and breathed in through her nose. Oliver let her go and they panted together, throwing each other with heated looks.

Oliver didn't let her come up for air for long. Before she knew it, his tongue flicked across her lips and without thinking she opened her mouth, welcoming him. He groaned when their tongues touched and he started mapping her mouth with vigor. She felt him push against her some more, and she moved her hand around to his back, caressing it like he did hers. They fought for dominance over the kiss, pushing against each other and biting each other's lips, but she let Oliver win in the end. That, and she was caught off guard when he scratched along her spine. She arched into his hold and moaned into their kiss loudly.

When she had realized exactly how loud it was, she stopped and pulled back. Wide-eyed and with a finger on her mouth, she signaled for them to listen for Diggle.

As they listened, she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his chest, panting while he continued administrating smooth touches all over her back. The fire in her gut was still going, making her dizzy and disoriented at the same time. There were no sounds from the living room but those from the television. She panted as they stood there in silence, finally taking in the situation. Finally cooling down a bit.

She closed her eyes as she realized what had just happened. Oliver's hand stilled and he went rigid. Felicity realized he, too, had just thought about the thing that she had remembered. Sara.

"I'm so sorry," she murmured immediately. "I shouldn't have kissed back."

He shook his head and swept his hand across her back once more. His voice rumbled through his chest, together with his heartbeat.

"No, it's my mistake. I should go," he said.

Reluctantly, Felicity pulled away from him, just far enough to keep his hand steady on her back and his other in her hair. She grabbed his arm when he started pulling away. She dreaded what she had to tell him, but it had to be said.

"Oliver, I can't- …. It might be better if I work at Queen Consolidated for a week. I'll be able to not mention this to Sara afterwards, so it should be fine."

He shook his head and leaned his forehead against Felicity's, their noses almost touching.

"Felicity … I have to tell her. It wouldn't be fair to her. You didn't initiate any of it, it's fine. Just… Yeah, work at the office for a bit until I've told her."

Then he let her go and she felt cold as she stared at the bottle of wine next to her, wrapping her arms around her belly and her head around what had just happened. Behind her, she heard the front door slam and Diggle call after Oliver.

She leaned back against the kitchen counter and hit herself repeatedly.

Yup, someone up there was clearly angry at her and now she had to go and fuck the whole situation up.

Full 10 points to Miss Felicity Smoak.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Yeaaaah so there were a few things that needed to be in here:**

**Bonding time, Bonding time with Digg because I dig Digg, and realizations. I think that happened, don't you?**

**Anyway, tell me what you thought, seriously! **

**I adoooooore you reviewers!**

btw has anyone got a clue as to how the layout thing works because I want there to be more space between text but it just doesn't work; kill me now.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** T**here are two things I would like to address first, one of them being that I'm sorry this chapter took so long. It's not extremely fluffy or lemon-y, but it needed to be written and therefore, it was a bitch. Also, I had to hand in my Master's dissertation yesterday and that took up a lot of time. **

**Secondly, someone commented upon the fact that I write this too British. I find this interesting because I am Dutch and so am flattered to hear this but am otherwise not changing anything. I know the words I know. **

**Then, olicity-smoak-queen asked me when this story was set and I actually thought to myself, that is a good question. The answer is as follows:**

_SPOILER ALERT (IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED SEASON 2 DON'T READ THIS)_

_Set after 2x19 ( Oliver has just lost his company to Isabel, Isabel is not yet injected with mirakuru, Sara is still with him, Diggle and Lyla are getting it on and Thea and Roy have broken up) in an ideal world version where after 2x18 Slade Wilson decided to stop the onslaught and leave the town for like a month or so. So there's a bit of a lapse in time before this story begins._

_Storylines I'm not really taking into account: Roy's mirakuru phase. He's non-mirakuru here._

This means I need to go back in time and change chapter 3 because I referred to the mirakuru-hyped fight, I know. Sorry! =(

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Arrow or any of the characters.

* * *

_Chapter Four_

_x_

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

"But one without friends that keep calling, at least," Felicity snapped from behind her computer. She pressed the call away and threw her phone on her desk. She rapped her fingers on the desk and turned back to her computer. Only a few more hours and she would have completed the update for the whole Queen Consolidated system.

She started typing rapidly, barely looking up to check her codes. She glanced around the room as she typed. Everybody had left early, so she was on her own. To be honest, she thought the office was nicer this way. Not that she had anything against her coworkers. It was just quieter this way and easier for her to concentrate. She jumped when her phone rang again. Although she grumbled and glared at the thing, it refused to stop. Yanking it towards her, she pressed the device against her ear.

"I am not leaving," she snarled.

"Oh, come on! You've been in that hellhole every damn day from dusk till dawn! Something's wrong and I demand to know what."

"Nothing's wrong, I just have a busy workweek."

It was silent for a second, but Felicity barely realized. She had started typing again.

"You better start talking to me right this instant, Felicity Meghan Smoak," Norah whispered hotly.

"Oh, sorry, that's my boss walking in. Got to go," Felicity rushed, ending the call and putting the phone down again.

She shook her head at it. How to stop this onslaught of phone calls was beyond her. So far, none of her normal methods had worked on Norah. She had called her out on her bullshit every single time. Felicity exhaled slowly and looked at the keyboard in front of her.

Well, on the bright side, Norah knew Felicity well enough to know when something was wrong. On the other side, Norah knew Felicity well enough to know when something was wrong.

She heard the buzz of her phone again and cast a look at it. It was skidding across her desk slowly and angrily. She rolled her eyes at it and started rubbing her temples.

When the phone didn't stop after a few seconds, she sighed. There was no way around it, honestly. Norah had come to her home when something felt wrong to her, before. It was not like it would be past her to do it, now. Felicity rolled her eyes at the phone and answered it.

"Fine, I'll see you at mine in an hour," she snapped.

There was a beat of silence.

"I'll bring food."

The other side of the line went dead.

Barely a few minutes after she had finished dressing into comfortable clothes, there had been a knock on her front door. Felicity had opened the door to the hurricane of anger and worry that was Norah and immediately wished she hadn't. Norah had steered her towards the dining table, pushed her down on a chair, dumped her Italian food on the dining table and ran around the apartment to get the table ware sorted out. The most impressive thing about this was, however, that she had all done this without stopping her angry rant even once. Felicity had supposedly worried her sick, been irresponsible, should have at least contacted her mother or other friends, needed to talk about her feelings more, was in dire need of a new working environment but most of all she had to talk about what was wrong because Norah was not okay with this kind of behaviour any longer.

When Norah had to stop to breathe, Felicity raised her hands.

"Okay, okay. I get it," she answered.

Norah snapped her newly opened mouth shut gave Felicity a look with distrust written all over her face.

"So you'll tell me what's wrong?"

Felicity grabbed a fork as she rolled her eyes at her friend.

"Fine," she grumbled. Or as much as she could, anyway.

The tiny blonde blinked up at Norah when she did not reply. Norah was looking at her expectantly. Watching the pasta on the plate before her, she thought about what she could, should, and maybe had better not tell her friend.

It was clear to her now, after five days of radio silence with Oliver and nine to five workdays, that she could handle this situation a bit better than she was doing now. She needed advice and a new point of view on the situation. The problem was, she couldn't explain the complete gravity of the situation without telling Norah about the Arrow.

So how to she tell Norah without telling her?

"Felicity," Norah reminded her.

The intelligent blonde glanced at her friend's face. Genuine worry was etched onto it and it seemed as if there was a bit of anger swirling behind those eyes as well. Maybe anger towards her, or the person who had made her feel this way. Norah had always been a bit protective. Felicity looked at Norah's clenched fists. _Okay, maybe more than a bit._ It was nice to have someone worry about you, though. Felicity couldn't deny that.

She took a bite of pasta, arranging her thoughts and nodding at Norah to acknowledge her. Okay, so she had to talk. That meant she had to tell Norah more than what she knew about Oliver. As far as Norah was concerned, Felicity's life was easy. Her only connection to Oliver was her work. Diggle she knew from working for Oliver as an IT-girl. Right, right.

She swallowed her food and drank some water before she started.

"I've been a bit out of it," she began, but had to stop and glare because Norah coughed something that sounded suspiciously much like 'understatement'. "because I am in a bit of a situation with my boss."

Norah sat up.

"With which of the two?"

Felicity sighed and looked at her friend closely to gauge her next reaction.

"Oliver Queen."

Norah gaped at her while she was trying and quite obviously failing to grasp the information. Felicity took another bite of pasta, welcoming the excuse to not be able to talk for a few more minutes. Meanwhile, she thought about the story she would have to spin in a minute or so.

"What happened," Norah asked, finally.

See, being prepared paid off.

"He had a dinner with an important client and since I've become his personal assistant as of last week, I had to join them. Diggle was there too-"

"Diggle did this," Norah screeched with a loud, high-pitched voice.

"-No, no, nooo. He didn't do anything. So, we had the dinner but then it was pouring when we left and since my house was close they wanted to drop me off first but we had to talk about a ton of things so we sat in the car for ages and I asked them to come up instead. They did, and I went for a bottle of wine at one point and Oliver joined me in the kitchen to help choose," Felicity said, staring at the kitchen behind her best friend. She trailed off slowly, thinking about what happened in the kitchen, but was put back on track quickly by a well-aimed kick to the shin. Glaring at Norah, she continued. "-choose a wine. He started touching me and it kind of led to us kissing."

Norah threw her hands in the air in surprise, mouth wide open and a surprised sound escaping her.

"What! Why didn't you tell me sooner! We should be celebrating," she said enthusiastically. Then, when she saw her friend's face, she pulled her arms down abruptly. Her eyes became slits as she observed her friend, creases forming on her forehead. "Oh. Why aren't we celebrating? No tongue?"

Felicity made an exasperated noise and hit Norah's arm.

"That's not the point; he's with Sara!"

Norah shrugged and twisted her fork around in the light a bit, watching its reflection.

"Sara Lance? So what? He's with any or all available Lances at all times, how serious can it be?"

After that, she started eating again. Felicity regarded her friend with a scandalized look on her face. When she tried to reply to the comment, she came up blank. Norah looked up at her and rolled her eyes at Felicity.

"What? _Shut up_. If he was completely into her he'd never kiss you."

Felicity closed her mouth. She looked from Norah to the pasta and back at her. Her eyebrows were raised. Norah never used to be this opinionated on cheating and kissing taken men. To be completely honest, Norah had been quite the mistress herself, a few times.

Norah shrugged at Felicity's looks and tilted her head to the side.

"I learned this when I got married. It's either love or it isn't, baby," she said before getting back to eating again.

Felicity observed her friend as she ate the last of her pasta and thought about what Norah had said. It had been some time since she had looked at a situation from this much of a black and white viewpoint. Granted, she was known as a voice of reason within the Arrow team, but there were always factors to take into consideration and opinions to count in. Norah's opinion was very refreshing. But like with the team Arrow problems, it couldn't just stay black and white. Sometimes, it sucked to have a voice of reason.  
Yes, Sara and Oliver were together, but they had been away from each other for a long time. After a few years of absence from each other's lives, everyone'd need some time to establish a relationship as strong as they had before. It was not as if their relationship could even be as strong as Norah thought it was. It was simply impossible within this time frame.

Plus, Felicity genuinely liked Sara. Kissing Oliver felt like betrayal to Felicity and that was not good. _Understatement of the year._ Felicity shook her head. She would have to apologize to Sara and hope for a resemblance of friendship after this. After all that had happened, Sara deserved that.

Felicity sighed. Next to Sara, there was the Oliver Queen and herself debacle on its own. Sure, she'd always had a small crush on the vigilante, but before all of this, it hadn't seemed possible for Oliver to even be remotely interested in her love life. Hell, it didn't even seem possible for her and Oliver to talk for more than five minutes about something unrelated to the Arrow. Well, without Diggle. With Diggle, that was always possible. Anyway, to get rid of that crush, she'd been hooking up with Mr. White Wine. Now that the crush was possible, that could change, too. Not that she would grieve for the man; she could still see him daily. But that was not the point: her tactic of getting rid of the crush had missed its target completely. Which resulted in the mess she was currently in. Felicity mused on about conversations her and Oliver had had recently and what exactly had changed when Norah interrupted her thoughts with a question.

"Has this stuff really gotten to you this much, Fay?"

Norah pointed at her untouched plate of food.

Felicity scrunched up her nose at the old nickname. It dated back to her days at MIT. The first few weeks, actually. She had gotten some popular friends in the beginning who insisted on giving her a nickname. Needless to say, she'd never really taken to the nickname and the friends had been dumped.

"Don't call me that."

"It gets you talking, babe. Explain to me why this is getting to you so much and I'll stop."

Felicity sighed in frustration and held her head in her hands, looking at her plate of pasta.

"It's because I know Sara. We really got to know each other at Verdant and she's, well. She's our kinda girl. I feel like I betrayed her. Also, I've put her and Oliver in a precarious situation and all because of my stupid crush."

Past her fingers, Felicity saw Norah reach out to pat her head. Norah shook her head as she did so.

"Yeah, I guess you should apologize to Sara. I would, if I were you," she said with a soft tone. "As for the rest, Felicity, be honest here. Who kissed who? Who got close to whom?"

Another frustrated sigh and a glare. Felicity refused to answer that. Norah rolled her eyes.

"Always the drama. Listen, it's not just your fault. Don't you think he's got some part in it? And Diggle, for letting it him get away with it," she added with a dark look at the picture of John and Felicity on the wall next to the table.

Felicity doubted the latter, but nodded anyway. Her friend was right, it wasn't just her fault. It wasn't as if Oliver couldn't think during that moment. They were both adults and could act like it. She felt remorse and guilt towards Sara and from Oliver's face when realization set in, she knew he did too.

When the blonde genius realized Norah was still staring at her, pressed for an answer, she acknowledged the words with a soft "yeah". When Norah seemed to accept that, she attacked her food. As she ate, she thought some more about her best friend's words and while there were some things they disagreed on, she knew that Norah was right about two things. One, Felicity could not take all the blame for this and two, she had to go to Sara to apologize. Whilst she thought about how to go about that, Norah had been chatting away and had grabbed a wine bottle. Felicity had let it happen under the pretense of not being able to stop Norah anyway. When she was offered a glass of red wine, however, Felicity took it happily. It might be a bad idea to drink the pain away, but she could at least numb it a bit.

* * *

Later, around the time the bottle of red wine had gotten warm, Felicity's lenses removed in favor of glasses and their favorite episode of Friends just finished, the doorbell rang. The tiniest bit tipsy, Felicity walked towards the buzzer and pressed the button to let the visitor in downstairs. She opened the door and walked towards the stairway, peering down to get a look at the intruder. She sighed in relief when she saw Diggle's trusted silhouette appear. Leaning over the bannister might not be a good idea in her condition, but she did so anyway. Diggle looked up by chance and saw her standing there. He smiled with genuine affection as he continued walking up the steps.

"If it isn't my sister from another mister," he joked.

Felicity smiled broadly at the sight of her good friend. John snorted at the lack of immediate reply and the sight before him. He'd seen her stone-cold sober, puking-away drunk and everything in-between, so he recognized her level of inebriation within seconds.

"I thought you didn't drink on weekdays," he teased as he reached her floor.

Turning towards him, the woman shrugged.

"I don't, brother from another mother," she answered. "Except for when Norah forces me."

Whilst shaking his head, Diggle put his arm around the blonde's waist and steered her away from the bannister.

"Norah's here?"

Felicity nodded and pulled him towards her apartment slowly.

"You better be prepared for a long lecture about brotherly responsibilities," she said seriously, pushing her finger against his chest. "She can be a force of nature if she wants to be."

Diggle laughed for a few seconds, then swallowed. Breathing in visibly, he nodded.

"I'm sure she is," he agreed. "I'm sure she is."

When they got inside, he shut the door behind them. Felicity went into the dining room ahead of him, announcing his arrival. He put away his coat and chucked off his shoes. He closed his eyes and braced himself. Then he went in.

The olive-skinned beauty was standing next to the couch Felicity was sitting on, waiting for him to appear around the corner.

"John Diggle, you dare set foot in a house I'm in after you allowed your surrogate sister to get hurt in this manner," Norah demanded, pointing from him to Felicity. "You better have a good reason to be here."

Diggle grimaced.

"To check up on her and talk?"

Norah glared at him for a few seconds, tight-lipped, before realizing it was actually a very brother like thing to do.

"That better be it," she snapped. "You have a lot of groveling to do before you're forgiven, John!"

"Really," Felicity quipped. "Funny, I never blamed him for anything."

With a grand gesture in her direction, Norah continued.

"Shut up, it's best friend business."

Felicity pulled Norah's arm to make her sit down on the couch next to her, rolling her eyes at her behaviour.

"You shut up. Sit down, Digg. Want red wine?"

As he walked further into the room, he noticed the cheese on a plate and the half-empty bottle of red wine. Shaking his head, he sat in the comfy chair next to the couch.

"Nah, I'm good." Felicity's best friend was still glaring at him from her position on the couch, but he tried to ignore her for the time being. Felicity minded her own business and started slicing the cheese. "So how've you been since I last saw you?"

When she had finished her slice of cheese, she answered him.

"I'm much the same as two days ago. Lots of work, drama drama. Still not coming to Verdant and haven't spoken to Oliver. You?"

He shook his head.

"Not much different, either. I see Norah finally got you to leave work?"

Felicity plucked at the armrest of the couch. Next to her, Norah was still glaring.

"Sort of. She forced me to tell her about how the boss of Verdant seduced me after our meeting with the hotshot lawyers."

His eyebrows shot up as he looked from Felicity to Norah.

"Did you include the part where I stayed behind and comforted you," he asked, giving Norah a pointed look. Norah's glare seemed to soften and Felicity shook her head at the couch. "Thought so."

With a loud humph, Norah moved on the couch and took her glass of wine from the table. She sipped the wine slowly before speaking.

"Anyway. Have you spoken to Mr. Queen, John?"

"Actually, I have," he replied. That made Felicity look up from the armrest. "We spoke yesterday- Sara and him have fought. Moving in together is off, apparently. He said he told her the truth, though. She came by the club not long after, to say she was leaving town for a few days to think. She doesn't seem to be as angry with you as she is with him, from what she told me."

_What?_ Felicity sat up and leaned towards Diggle, unconsciously trying to hear more than she possibly could.

"So they broke up," Norah stated.

The man shook his head.

"No, Oliver said they had agreed to think about it. He still loves her and he wants to do right by her. It's hard on him, though. He's been beating himself up about it," he spoke.

The two members of team Arrow shared a look and Felicity knew instantly that that meant Oliver had been fighting. Without backup, most probably, if Diggle had only just found out. Frustration and worry surged through Felicity and she groaned.

"Typical. The one time I kiss the incredibly hot guy, he gets suicidal after. As if the comatose ex-flirt wasn't enough."

Norah snorted, not fully understanding the comment. Diggle tilted his head at the comment and looked at the window across the couch. Felicity followed his gaze and looked at the building across from hers. When John looked back at her, she gave him a questioning look. When Norah leaned forward to cut a slice of cheese for herself, John nodded at her. Felicity looked back at the building across hers. So John thought he was out there, watching them. Grabbing her glass of wine, she tipped it towards John and the window before taking a large gulp.

"It could have been worse," Norah suddenly stated. "Remember that time my cousin Dom tried to hit on you and then ran away from you when the lights in the club went on and you turned out to be white?"

Surprise flooded through her system and Felicity threw her hands in the air, turning to Norah. She glared at her, but the damage had been done. Diggle was laughing out loud, leaning back in his chair and throwing his whole body into it.

"You said you'd never tell!"

Norah shrugged.

"Too good not to tell."

* * *

By the time Norah and Diggle left, Felicity had sobered up again. The bolt on her front door had been slid in place after their departure and she started cleaning up soon after. Putting away the wine glasses in the dishwasher, her thoughts started to wander again. She remembered kissing Oliver right on this spot like it was yesterday. His big blue eyes close to hers, his warm hands touching her. She felt warm just thinking about the feeling of his lips against hers. The idea of being able to count all the small freckles, to feel his stubble on her cheeks as they kissed. The feeling of wanting more; the feeling of anticipation. She remembered it all too well. It had been a sensual moment, one that you don't come across often. To her it had been, at least. Maybe it was different to Oliver.

At least, that was what she had to gather from him staying with Sara, or at least thinking about the situation and not breaking up immediately.

She closed the dishwasher and looked at the kitchen counter. Right here, they had been standing _right here_, talking about Mr. White Wine and normal wine and he had been jealous and now here she was, alone. Closing her eyes, she bumped her head against the kitchen cabinet in front of her a few times. _Maybe God is trying to tell me something. _

The sound of her mobile phone ringing got her out of her reverie and when she found it, she saw it was Roy. She took the call, raised eyebrows and all.

"Roy?"

"Yo, Felicity! I was just thinking, with all this stuff going on, do you feel like coffee tomorrow? Get over it a bit?"

Felicity smiled at the dining table in front of her. It was weird, but considerate. Who knew Roy could be considerate. She thought about what Norah would do and nodded decisively. _What_? Norah would do it.

Realizing he couldn't hear her, she voiced her agreement.

"Nice. Where do we meet? Yours or mine?"

Looking around and scrutinizing her apartment, Felicity thought it was clean enough for more visitors. Besides, it was not as if any disarray had bothered Roy before. She walked towards the window to look outside at the cars passing.

"Mine, I guess. But we can- I mean, we can just have coffee here, nothing more. I just need a bit of company," she said. She needed to keep herself distracted. People visiting could be counted as a distraction, right?

"Will do," Roy answered. "See you around eight?"

"I-," Felicity said, stopping herself. She had seen something move on the roof across from her building. She leaned forward and squinted her eyes to see into the darkness. "Um, yeah. That's fine. Have to go though, see you then?"

The young man chuckled.

"Busy lady, aren't you? See you tomorrow," he said before ending the call.

Not that she had heard him. No, she was standing there, phone a bit away from her face, staring at the building across from hers. She could see it clearly now, a black silhouette against the chimney. She couldn't see more than that.

Her mouth was open a bit, her surprise not quite hidden. The fact that the figure was there, itself, didn't surprise her. The fact that she could see him, however, did. Oliver showing himself meant that either something was wrong or he wanted her to know he was watching over her. There was no way for her to know which of the two was true. Although he would have contacted her if he was in trouble, she thought.

Sighing, she pulled her hand away from the window and walked away from it. She sat down in a comfy chair, debating on what to do. If it were any other night, she would have called him. Joked about him being there, scold him and tell him it wasn't necessary to look after her. But it wasn't. Still, she felt like calling him all the same.

She searched for his name in her call directory and stopped her finger just before pressing the call button. Last minute doubt set in, but then she clicked her tongue. Ah, fuck it. _There is nothing wrong with talking to a friend_. She pressed the button.

When it started ringing, she walked towards the balcony door. She opened it and stepped outside, marveling at the nice temperature outside still. She had just started leaning against the balcony railing when Oliver answered.

"Hello?"

The sound of his voice shocked her and she did what she always did when in a difficult situation. She talked.

"Hi Oliver. Yo. Right, so I saw you sitting on the chimney across the road like some kind of Santa- obviously you're not Santa- okay wait," she said, stopping herself before that could even remotely go wrong. Breathing in and out slowly, she gained her breath. She gained control over her nerves and continued. "What I wanted to say was, are you okay? I can see you, which means you're either not okay or just making sure I know I'm safe."

The phone line was silent for a moment, before Oliver made a small sound that sounded like a smile. Felicity couldn't tell why, it was just that kind of sound.

"I'm fine. I was just resting."

"Right across my house."

Oliver chuckled.

"Right across your house," he agreed.

_As if._

His voice was low and it made her shiver, but she mentally slapped herself for doing so. She had to be strong. Strong for herself, strong for Sara.

"Right, well, if you want to you could rest on the balcony. I could get you coffee. Maybe even a nice chat with the owner of the apartment. I hear she's good with computers."

The vigilante chuckled at that. She could practically imagine how he was sitting. His green hood still on, one leg straight in front of him and the other bent with an arm carelessly slung across it. He was probably doing that thing with his fingers that he always did, as if he was touching a quiver.

"She's alright," Oliver admitted. She could see his silhouette move away from the chimney, now. "I heard she hacked the Starling City Police Department network."

The blonde snorted and crossed her legs whilst standing against the railing. She could not see him anymore.

"Please, she's hacked several federal agencies higher up the list than _the_ _SCPD_," she boasted. "All for good causes, of course."

"Of course," Oliver answered.

She was silent for a while. Oliver was running now and she could hear him panting slightly.

"I'll put on the coffee," she said. She pressed the red button on her phone.

She spun on her heels, going inside to make them some coffee. Every now and then, she glanced through the kitchen window to see if Oliver was on the balcony yet, but he was a no show as of yet. A large plaid was dragged towards and spread on the balcony to sit on. She put some pillows on it to create a wall between them, as a precaution. When she was done, she regarded her work proudly and went to check on the coffee. Still no Oliver, she gathered from her look through the window.  
When she got to the balcony with a thermos and two cups, however, the hooded figure was sitting on one side of the plaid. She stopped herself short and kept herself from making a sound, but she dropped a mug. Oliver looked up and she bent over quickly to get the mug. When she walked outside, she glared at him.

"At least announce that you're here," she complained. "You scared me half to death!"

Oliver gave her a look.

"Would it have helped if I stood in front of the window and waved?"

Felicity pursed her lips and sat down on the plaid, on the other side of the wall of cushions.

"I might not have dropped the mug," she tried.

"Felicity," he said, calling her out on the blatant lie.

She stubbornly put the coffee mugs on the plaid and filled them. One of the two she handed to Oliver, making sure their hands did not touch. Oliver sipped his coffee and smiled. He moved around and sat against the wall, next to Felicity and the wall of cushions.

"So, has Digg been by often?"

The blonde nodded and looked inside her apartment. There was still some trash on the table that she had to get rid of.

"Yeah, you just missed him… but you probably knew that. Other than that, two other times."

"I didn't know you were that close," Oliver remarked.

The blonde shrugged.

In the silence that followed, Felicity thought about how her friendship with John had come to be. They had been talking beforehand, but the friendship had truly been established when Oliver had left them after the Undertaking. Their frantic search for Oliver combined with her anxiety attacks (an after effect of the Undertaking,) had gotten them closer. They had both slept in the foundry for a time, hoping to catch Oliver if he came in and when Diggle found out she had nightmares, he had helped her. Diggle had been there for her more times than she could count, then, in hundreds of ways. By the time they found Oliver, the bond had been formed. It had just happened. Diggle had become the big brother figure in her life and he had somewhat accepted her as his baby sister. Even Norah got to know Diggle. To be honest, Norah had known Diggle before the Undertaking, but she only really befriended him after. Felicity's other friends had heard of him through stories, but she figured John was not the type to take to her friends' places.

"We kind of bonded when you were gone after the Undertaking. He's kind of a brother to me, now. He'll come visit the house from time to time, I sometimes ring him to grab a bite; you know how it is."

Oliver's hood was pulled down and he smiled at Felicity before he drank some coffee. She watched his bow that was lying near his feet. She admired it for some time: it was a pretty one. She'd purchased the right one, after all.

"It's nice that you two have that. I wish Roy would fit in more with the team, as well," he said.

Felicity shrugged.

"Roy is kind of a loner. He seems to like being on the team, though," she said.

She held the cup of coffee in both her hands, warming herself up. Oliver looked at his mug of coffee.

"Yeah but he hasn't got a connection with any of us. Do you talk to him a lot? Meet up with him, like with Diggle?"

The cup of coffee was at her lips again before she realized she had pulled it up. As she swallowed a mouthful of coffee, she looked at the railing that surrounded her balcony. It was white and made of steel, but it had an art nouveau style, so it seemed very flowery. She thought about Oliver's question.

"No, very rarely," she said, looking away.

Oliver was looking at the silhouettes of the buildings around and leaned forward as he watched them. He nodded.

"Yeah, I thought so," Oliver admitted with a sad tone.

A relieved sigh, before she pushed up her glasses. Then, she realized what he had said. Smirking, she bumped her shoulder against his. He moved his mug around to make sure his coffee did not spill, which made her smirk even more.

"Is that disappointment I'm hearing? Do I sense worry about his well-being? Are you acting like a big brother, too?"

Oliver smiled.

"Maybe," he said. Then, he became curious. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

A shake of the head and a mumbled 'no' was his answer. Oliver was confused as to why she'd answered so softly, but saw that she was lost in thought and let her. It wasn't as if he had never shut her out because he was thinking.

Felicity swallowed her last gulp of coffee and grabbed one of the arrows from Oliver's quiver. It was a normal one. Holding it in the light, she absentmindedly touched the tip of it. She thought about her mother and what was supposed to be home. She loved her mother, she truly did. But she just could not think of the shabby apartment across the road from the bar her mother worked in, as home. Maybe if her dad was still there, maybe if she'd had brothers and sisters. Maybe then, she could have thought of it as home.  
After her father left, however, her mother had had no desire to remarry or get any other kids. She gave up hope and so Felicity had sat in that house, alone, for so long that she had started to despise it. She had spent her days playing with her mother's computer, disassembling it and building it from scratch out of boredom. She sighed as she remembered that her mom was still in that old town and refused to move out.

"No?"

With another shake of her head, Felicity rid herself of the sentimental thoughts and put on a smile as she answered Oliver.

"Nah, its better this way. They'd only be constantly embarrassed by their big sister," she joked.

Oliver frowned at her comment and turned to her. She moved away a bit, regardless of the fact that there was a wall of cushions in-between them. Oliver was still frowning.

"No," he stated. "No, they wouldn't. Nobody feels embarrassed by you, Felicity. You're you from the get go, with everyone. People don't get embarrassed because they know what you're like from the beginning. They expect you to do unexpected things. That can mean they're surprised, but not at all that they're embarrassed. Sometimes they're amused, even."

She smiled. Maybe it was true. Maybe it wasn't. Not that she would ever know, because she would never have siblings. But she now at least had the knowledge that Oliver Queen thought she wasn't embarrassing, and that was good enough for now.

"Thank you," she whispered.

She turned around the arrow in her hands and touched the feathers at the end with her fingertips. Oliver shrugged.

"That's what friends are for," he said.

After he said that, there was a lull in the conversation. Felicity thought about her mother and how she should call her tomorrow. Oliver thought about his situation with Sara and how he could solve it. Unknowingly, both of them moved around and ended up sitting shoulder to shoulder, cushions beneath their elbows as they sat and thought about life. At some point, Felicity topped up their mugs again.

When Felicity was halfway through her coffee, she pushed her thoughts of siblings and parents aside for later. She looked at Oliver, who was staring at his phone now. It had a picture of Sara as background. Oh, _nice_. Felicity looked away, but not only because she was a bit hurt but also because she felt guilt towards these two people for hurting them and making them hurt each other. She knew that she was not the only one that was guilty, but she couldn't shake the feeling either way.

"Do you think you'll ever get back together," she mused suddenly. She clamped her hand over her mouth and shook her head. Wide-eyed, she looked at Oliver as he regarded her with surprise. She dropped her hand with the arrow to the ground next to her. "I did not say that out loud. Did I?"

Oliver looked amused, eyes twinkling while she was getting ready to go sit somewhere in a corner and never come back. When her embarrassment had gone, mostly, he looked at his phone background again.

"I'm not sure," he answered seriously, putting down his coffee mug. The IT-girl frowned when he looked sad. "She was really upset."

She nodded in understanding.

"I know I would be," she mused. She thought about his past personality and his personality now and how different they were. Sara had not seen Oliver for a long, long time, however. So how did she know Oliver had improved in this regard? How had she not been prepared this to happen? "There's one thing I don't understand. I mean, granted, you have changed for the better. But this must have happened before? You were not exactly known as Mr. Loyalty when you were still playboy extraordinaire."

The question was a blunt one, she knew. But Oliver had long ago proved to her that he could handle her bluntness, so she wasn't too worried. Oliver just shook his head at her question with another amused smile. Then, he looked at the arrow on the floor and seemed to think about her question.

"I think she knows I've changed. I am not the same flirty guy and I don't sleep with everybody. Me doing this and telling her is something she's never been confronted with before and so she knows she needs to take it seriously. As do I. So, we decided to take a small break and think," he answered. When he finished, he looked straight ahead. He clenched his jaw when he finished and Felicity felt sad.

She looked at her coffee mug as she thought of how she should reply to that.

"It seems like a big step, from a normal relationship point of view. Are you not afraid of losing her?"

It was pure masochism, she thought. Why was she still talking about this subject? She should have dropped it at least three questions ago. But she couldn't, because she cared.

"Very. The fact that her moving in with me is not going to happen soon, alone, makes me scared, but losing her completely, that terrifies me," he answered in all honesty.

That hurt. No, that really hurt.

"I guess that is how it is when you're together," she answered.

She was proud of her neutral answer.

"No, Felicity, I don't mean- with losing her I meant the fact that I have had Sara in my life for over six years, now. I don't know any better. I mean, I couldn't handle not talking to her anymore. She is one of my best friends."

The fact that Oliver worried more about losing Sara as a friend than as a lover did not go unnoticed, but Felicity kept quiet. Nodding and sighing, she pulled a cushion into her lap and hugged it to her body.

"I can imagine," she answered. "I mean, not that I can imagine because the only best friend I have is Norah and I can't very well be with her. Well, I could, but then she has a husband so that's not really a nice thing to do. Although we did sort of the same thing-"

She shut her mouth with a snap and turned to Oliver with frightful eyes. He was frowning and giving her a look and she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Irritated that she could not say or do anything right anymore, she fell back against the wall behind her. With a groan, she hit her head against the wall behind her repeatedly.

"Why did we have to kiss," she groaned. "It ruined everything."

She brought up her legs towards her torso and put the pillow on top of them. It felt soft under her chin when she leaned on it while staring forward. Holding her warm mug in front of her with two hands, she clenched her jaw as she thought about what she had wrecked with just kissing the man. Her friendship with Sara, their relationship, the dynamic in team Arrow, the dynamic between her and Oliver; there was so much that had changed and that could have still been normal.

But no, they had had to go and ruin it all. All because of what? Some sort of attraction that she was trying to calm down with frequent visits to Mr. White Wine? And that was a whole other thing: why was she even still meeting up with him?! What kind of half attempt was that?  
She should have tried more in the dating area, before she got to him. Then again, she simply didn't have time to date. It was also a bit pointless because she had a big target on her back due to her nightly activities. What was the point of dating if she would only put the other in danger? What was the point of dating if there never was to be a relationship anyway? But then one thing led to another with Mr. White Wine and Norah had suggested ringing him to get rid of her dry spell after that and that was that. The downward spiral had started. Felicity groaned. She buried her face in the pillow, taking care not to break her glasses as she thought about how she had failed herself and her love life with seeing Mr. White Wine, but also with her actions with Oliver. There had never been much of a chance, but if there had ever been a chance, it was gone now.

A hand touched her shoulder when she groaned again, which made her look to her left. Oliver was watching her, a complicated mix of emotions. She could see sadness, regret and also something else she could not quite put her finger on, swirling underneath the surface. Oliver's thumb started making soothing circles on her shoulder. Leaning down a bit until his head was at the same level as hers, Oliver looked her in the eyes.

"Hey, I don't regret that, okay?" She frowned. He made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat and looked in front of him. As he ducked his head down, he continued talking. "I don't regret kissing you. What happened, happened because we wanted it to in that moment. It's just that it happened at the wrong time and place."

She looked at him in surprise as he stared in the distance. He hadn't kept track of his stubble lately and was slowly growing a beard, she noticed. Maybe he was letting go a bit while Sara was gone. He seemed far away, like he was thinking about so many things at once that he could barely keep track of them. Maybe he was thinking about what he had just told her and what it could mean.

Not that telling her that would make any difference in the grand scheme of things. She cocked her head to look at her hands in front of her knees and fiddled with them. All this speculation would not make any difference, she realized. He would stay with Sara all the same and she would have to let go of him, leave team Arrow and be on her own again. She would have to get back to her boring life with Norah and all her other friends instead of the adventure she was now used to. Most of all, however, it would mean Oliver would leave her to fend for herself and she would be without him. All alone.

Oliver moved his head and chanced a look at her. She caught it and her gaze softened as she noticed he had pursed lips and a rigid posture, as if he was tense after telling her that.

"Me too," she assured him with a wry smile on her face. "It felt right to me."

* * *

Oliver groaned and swung his head around, his eyes meeting hers once again. He observed her as she sat there, curled up with her head on the pillow on her knees. Her blonde hair had been pulled back in a ponytail. He wished she'd wear it down more. It was not practical, but he loved how it looked. He gazed at her as she readjusted her glasses, thinking about all the things she was to him. A rock, a light, a constant incentive to evaluate the situation. Most of all, she was someone who truly, genuinely cared. Without knowing him because of his money, without all the happy-go-lucky acting he had to do to be Oliver Queen, son of the Queen family.  
And she looked sad. Sad because of what happened and sad because she was hurt by him. Sad because of what would come after this, possibly. She probably did not realize he could not leave her alone, even after this. He would have to keep her close, look after her. Sara would understand, but lay down some restrictions, probably. Still, he vowed to himself that she would never look this sad because of him ever again, when this was all over.

Intent on telling her, he reached out and removed her glasses. His hand moved back up to cup her face and he pressed his forehead against hers, knowing it was not a smart move but more worried about getting his point across.

"Don't worry, it's okay. I care about you, I'm not going to walk away suddenly," he whispered. "I just need to do right by Sara. After all this time, she deserves a well-considered decision."

Felicity looked deep into his eyes and he tried to portray all the emotion he felt in his eyes, because he could not possibly convey everything he felt. Next to that, he couldn't because he was worried about the position it would put Felicity in. After deciding never to make her look sad again, hurting her seemed like a bad way to go.

He pressed their faces together, his other hand coming up to caress her hair. He made sure not to kiss her in the process. It was hard, but he didn't want to cheat on Sara more than he had already done. She didn't deserve that. Neither did Felicity.

A wavering sigh came from the blonde in front of him and he made soothing noises.

"I understand," Felicity replied. "Just don't leave me all alone, okay? Whatever happens."

He nodded slowly.

"Whatever happens," he promised.

Pulling his head and hands back, he watched her as she opened her eyes slowly. He immediately missed the feeling of her skin beneath his fingertips and the feel of her nose against his. He missed being able to look into her stormy gray eyes from up close and feeling her breath fan out across his face. But he had to leave before this could get out of hand. Pushing the cushion on the floor, however, Felicity stood up before he could and sorted her clothing. When she was done, she turned to Oliver. Apparently, she had come to the same conclusion.  
By the looks of it, though, she was not happy about it. The corners of her mouth were down and she had crossed her arms. She looked him in the eye as she told him to leave.

"Right. Time for you to go. Contact me when you guys have made a decision, okay?"

"What will you be doing in the meantime?"

She frowned and looked away.

"Working at Queen Consolidated. IT-girl stuff."

She looked so forlorn, so sad, when she said it that he couldn't help it. He stepped towards her, threw his arms around her for a few seconds and then let go again. The move had surprised Felicity, so she had no time to reciprocate.

"I'll see you soon," he said as he moved away from her, looking into her eyes deeply one more time before turning around and running towards the fire escape at the end of the balcony.

As he ran down the stairs, he could only think about how close a call that had been after his promise. A few seconds of touching longer and he would have kissed her again. Which would not have been fair towards Sara or Felicity.

When he got downstairs, he looked up at her balcony while he walked away.

He wondered at what point it would be acceptable to admit he was in love with another, or if social restrictions would force him to let go of her. Because he was not exactly sure he could do the latter anymore.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Before I upload the next chapter can I please rave about the finale because sweet mother of freya was that one HELL of a piece of television! That Olicity bit near-killed me! My flatmate ran in asking where the fire was, since I was just so distraught about the series (headphones in and all). Obviously I was sad they hadn't gone through with the Olicity, but then again, I am proud at what we accomplished. There aren't a lot of shows that are based on a comic book where they leave in a character because of, well, the director of CW but also because of fans! And then now they're going with our ship as well!**

**I say, guys: if you see your ship, swim out to meet it!**

**Now go and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Sorry!

I took the last two chapters down because I wasn't satisfied with where the story was going! Don't worry, though, the major elements are still the same, but I felt the characters weren't really acting like they should anymore. SO: rewrite.

The first scene here is more or less the same, but the ones after that = completely different.

I hope you guys enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** STILL NOT MINE.

* * *

_Chapter Five_

_x_

With a loud thud, he landed on the ground in front of the back entrance to the foundry. Oliver walked over to the door with a sense of dread. It wasn't really enticing to find the foundry empty yet again.

The foundry had not been a pleasant place at all, lately. Diggle had refused to be there regularly until Oliver had sorted out his personal problems. Felicity wasn't there either, for obvious reasons. That left him and Roy, and the latter was usually silently cursing his archery skills somewhere in the back. Still, that was more than nothing.  
But yesterday afternoon Roy had also been absent and Oliver wondered if he was trying to make a statement as well. Even though Roy had been mostly silent, he was bound to have an opinion about the situation. The thought of losing even Roy made him a bit sad. Oliver liked having at least one more person in the foundry. He could be alone at home or when he was running over the rooftops. The foundry being flooded with sounds and occupied had unconsciously become the norm for him and the silence in there was too disconcerting now.

Oliver punched in the code, unable to see the number pad in the darkness of night, but knowing it by heart. When the number pad showed a green light, he opened the door and stood still. He was blinded by the light inside for a second, but waited until he got used to it before he walked in. Silently, he closed the door, listening for any other occupants inside the foundry. When he heard nothing, he stood up straight and walked in, throwing his bow on the table and his quiver next to it. He walked over to the glass case where he usually left his vest and hood and changed into a comfortable shirt quickly.

"Hi Ollie," a voice said.

Oliver jumped up. Fists raised in position, he glanced around. He gritted his teeth at his own ignorance. _He had listened, hadn't he_?  
Maybe he had been too preoccupied. He shuffled around to be able to see more of the foundry. Then there she was. Sitting in the chair in front of the computers. He dropped his fists.

"You need to improve your detecting skills," Sara said, swirling around on the chair from left to right. "I could teach you, at some point."

Oliver bristled but said nothing. It made Sara grin while she gestured for him to sit. He walked towards the table next to the computer tables: some distance might be wise. If Sara was here, that could only mean one thing. She had come to her conclusion before him. Before she left, they had decided she would not see him for a week, and it had only been five days. He mentally braced himself for whatever she had to say on the matter. Whether positive or negative, it would create a chain reaction and it might even dissolve friendships. But before it came to that, they would have to talk.

"Sara," he said pleasantly.

Normally, he would have come forward and kissed her, but he felt like it would be wrong to do so at such a crucial point. Like it might infer his or her judgment and he didn't want that. They both had their own thoughts and he wanted to hear them, uninfluenced. For a few seconds, the two of them only looked at each other. Sara had tanned a bit, Oliver observed. Her blonde hair seemed blonder than normal – maybe a result of lying in the sun a lot and the frown on her face gave away that she had given this situation a lot of thought, much like Oliver. Her clothing comprised of a tank top and shorts, which suggested that she was not here to train with him like she would normally do. She was probably leaving after this conversation, he surmised.

"You came back early," he stated.

Sara nodded. She smiled at the ground, absorbed by her thoughts for just a moment.

"Turns out I didn't need to think for seven days. I kind of had it figured out on day two but I wanted to sleep on it," she replied.

He raised his eyebrows at her confession. Her reaction was a silent laugh. Her chair creaked when she got up from it and walked towards him. She sat next to him on the table, comfortably bumping her shoulder against his.

The silence persisted. Not that Oliver wanted to be quiet, but he didn't want to have this conversation either. Loving someone and having these kinds of conversations was hard because he knew it was hurting her as much as him and he'd at one point sworn not to make her hurt again.  
Sara broke through the silence first.

"I love you," she breathed out. With a glance at her face, Oliver could tell there was more coming, so he didn't reply. She turned to him and cupped his face with her hand. This time, her voice was audible when she spoke. "I love you, Ollie, you know that."

When he had nodded, she continued.

"The thing is, even before that kiss, we'd been having problems. It's not like it came out of nowhere. You… you've created a whole new life for yourself with new friends and have set new goals. I have to focus on my family and myself because of the League of Assassins, before I can do that. We're," she broke off mid-sentence there, trying to find the word. "We're two people on different paths in life. When you asked me to move in together I was thrilled but when I realized what it meant, I got scared. Because of our different paths, because of our separate goals, I got scared. I was honestly doubting whether or not I was going to do it, still, when this all happened. It would be stupid not to take that into consideration as well."

She seemed to be looking for new words to convey how she felt and Oliver gave her the time she needed, taking her hand from his face and holding it. Surprise flooded through him at her confession, but he didn't show it.

"So we kind of had things going on before you kissed her. Then you kissed her, which, okay, I can't say I hadn't somewhat prepared for. I knew you in the life before the island and I can't say I hadn't thought of you cheating on me now because it is just sensible to be prepared. But never did I think you would come out and say it. You've changed, Ollie, and that's good, don't get me wrong. When you tell me things like that, however, it shows how grave the situation is in your eyes and that means… that means you did more than kiss. You've started to like her."

It was not a reprimanding tone with which she had said that. Merely one stating the facts. Still, he looked away from Sara and at the ground.

"Maybe, but I still love you," he said in a strangled voice.

Sara shrugged.

"Sometimes loving someone is not enough. I love you, but I am afraid to move in with you. I love you, but I haven't let you help me get out of my survivor-mode. Maybe there's a point where loving someone is not enough anymore. I need to want the same things as you do. At this point, I don't."

She leaned more against his shoulder and the corners of her mouth had gone down. When the words had been spoken, Oliver looked at their hands and squeezed her hand tightly. A lonesome tear worked its way down Sara's face.

"It's not that I don't love you enough," she said. "We're just in a different situation."

Without thinking, Oliver put an arm around her.

"Same. It's not that I don't care," he stated.

With a shake of the head, Sara dismissed that thought.

"Of course not. If you didn't care, you wouldn't have told me," she simply remarked.

Oliver nodded.

"You're right," he started. He braced himself for the words he would have to say next. "We've had problems on top of problems and I love you, but loving someone does not mean you can take away all the problems without effort. Effort we can't put in because of our convictions. It would be wrong to stay together. I'm so sorry, Sara."

After he had said the words, it was silent for as long as it took for the words to get through. Then Sara hugged Oliver. He hugged her back and pulled her in as close as he could, trying to give her strength and show her his love for her had not waned. He patted her head and traced soothing circles on her shoulder blade, too used to hardship to cry but not used to it enough to have moist eyes. She pulled back and they observed each other for a few seconds. Both of them had moist eyes, but neither of them was able to cry. Both of them chuckled through their hurt.  
Nevertheless, he kissed her for the last time. When he ended the kiss, she pushed her forehead against his. She looked at his eyes, put her hands on his face and sighed.

"Ollie, I'm on standby. For the Arrow. I need some time on my own."

The vigilante nodded. He held her face in his hands.

"Don't you dare stop being my friend," he said.

Sara gave him a sort of sad look.

"As if I could stop caring for you after those five years," she whispered. Then, she squared her shoulders. "Shut up, we'll be fine."

With a nod, Oliver let go of her face and moved back. Sara let go of his face as he moved away and looked at her hands in her lap for a second. When she stood up, she and Oliver regarded each other. Then she turned to grab her backpack. Wiping at her eyes for a few seconds, she turned to the exit of the foundry.

"Make sure to bring any stuff of mine by my dad's place this week, okay? Or contact Laurel about it."

Still in the process of talking, she walked to the exit. She threw one look behind her when she opened the door. And even though he was nodding at her, he felt like he had never done such a difficult thing in his life, before.

* * *

The days after she had met Oliver on her balcony were long and tedious. The jobs she had been assigned by her boss Pete were horrid. She spent hour after hour checking scripts and making additions to the firm programme, all simple but laborious jobs. Not at all challenges, although according to Pete they were. But Pete was an ICT man that graduated from the University of Nerd thirty years ago and thought making a website was difficult. He had no clue about what was difficult for Felicity and what wasn't. Breaking into the NSA network undetected, now THAT was a difficult. But no, she was asked to stop pop-ups from Java from appearing on screen.

Since she was not at liberty to do such things from the Queen Consolidated office, she kept her hacking tendencies on the down low. Which made it all the more boring, really.

She rang Diggle sometimes, in a desperate attempt to get some excitement in her life. But he had been busy posing as the Hood, lately, since Oliver had asked him to sub for a few days. Which was, on its own, rather remarkable seeing as Oliver usually wasn't a fan of that, but in combination with the timing… Felicity knew something was up. Diggle maintained that he hadn't heard anything, though, so she tried not to think too much of it. She would find out what had happened soon enough, since Diggle forced her to promise to be back again in the Foundry on Thursday. Not that she had not planned to be back the exact day the seven days Oliver was waiting on Sara were over. There were lives to save and when she thought about her life in comparison to hundreds of others, she felt she could push hers to the side to help them for a few hours a day, even if the situation with Oliver turned awry.

Okay, maybe she was also a bit interested in Oliver's relationship status.

Next to that all of that, though, she was basically aching to do some real work again. So, she let Diggle make her promise to come by and tell her she was needed. The latter was always a nice thing to hear, either way. Not that she didn't have a grasp of how much of an expert she actually was, but it made her feel warm inside. So she promised and that was that.

Next to ringing Diggle and work, she scarcely left her flat. She went to Norah and Jay to have dinner once, which happened every week or so. It cheered her up, though, and Norah's Indian food had been pretty spectacular, as always, so it was a good night. She spent the rest of her free time daydreaming about the Indian food _–Wake me up for some of that any time_- and watching her favourite episodes of Friends again. She took her sweet time reading through her book collection again, as well.  
Actually, she had never realized how much time the whole Arrow-project took up. It seemed like an unreal amount of time, now, because she could do so many other things and her daily life was so much less busy. Not to mention less stressful. It made her feel a bit empty, a bit unlived, even, to be so free all the time. But she made the best of it and tried to do things she'd been wanting to do for some time, now. Like eat take-out for four nights on a row, just because she could.

Time passed, however, and she had promised to get back to the Foundry. On Thursday, Felicity had come in for the first time again. She was welcomed warmly by both Diggle and Roy and because Oliver wasn't there to give them pointers about who to go after, the three of them spent a lot of time in training. Even Felicity was making progress, regardless of the fact that she would probably never be able to move as fast as Diggle or Oliver did. She could throw a mean punch, though. _Well, mean enough for a computer nerd, anyway_.

Around that time, Felicity started to worry about the talk Oliver and Sara had had. Some part of her hoped Sara would've dumped Oliver, but on the other hand she thought it would've been easier if she wouldn't have. Either way, she still wanted to apologize to Sara for kissing her man, at some point. But when, and how had the meeting played out? She wondered about any and all scenarios and steeled herself against the worst.  
The problem with wondering and worrying, though, was that it made her want to reach for the phone and call Sara right away. But there was a time for everything. It would be rude to call Sara the same day and tell her sorry and go on the hey-by-the-way-is-he-single path. So she waited and waited and waited.

By the time it was Sunday, her fingers were positively itching to grab the Foundry phone and ring Sara, if not for an apology then for an inquiry as to what had happened. It had been three days since the deadline had passed but Oliver was still nowhere to be seen. The same went for Sara.  
But Felicity (and Roy and Diggle, too), managed to keep her distance and give them time. When three days had turned into seven and Diggle and her had already visited multiple possible locations where Oliver could have gone, however, Felicity was starting to get really worried. That, and a tiny bit irritated. Not because she was angry but because if this would continue, the next place to look would probably be the island and she was _not_ looking forward to skydiving again.

Pained, Felicity gazed at the phone on the table in front of her. It was Sunday evening, still no word from either of them. She looked up at Diggle and Roy, who were working on a new sort of Arrow they had devised (it gave off an electric wave as soon as it made contact. A nice touch, she thought). As she saw them work, she squared her shoulders and reached for the phone. _A team is not a team without everybody present. We need both of them_.

She rang Sara. It took some time for her to get through.

The moment Sara answered, though, a wall of sound lay siege on Felicity's ears. She could hear wind, the cold rattle of a gun and screams of both victory and agony in the background. Most of all, however, Sara's breathing was echoing on the line. Her voice was quiet when she answered, but it still reverberated through the space she was in, making it sound alien and caught in the moment.

"Felicity?"

A surprised tone. Suddenly, there was a shot close to the phone and Felicity neglected saying hi because she doubted very much Sara would be able to hear her, anyway. The sound of the gun was hard and sudden and it made her shriek.

"Oh my god, are you okay, Sara? Do I need to send in Diggle? Where are you?"

Sara laughed. She was breathing hard, though, so it sounded like a difficult task. It did not ease Felicity's worries. The hard sounds took over the phone line again for some time. Then, there was a loud yell.

"That's _my_ gun, Felicity," Sara replied. "And Diggle wouldn't be of much help unless he could transport to Saudi Arabia right this moment."

Felicity turned around on her office chair and her gaze sharpened.

"Saudi Arabia? Why are you in Saudi Arabia? Why didn't you tell us where you went? I mean, that is no place for a girl alone-"

Sara chuckled and in the background, Felicity could hear some thuds and a body falling on the floor.

"I'm a bit busy, Felicity; I'm with the League of Assasins."

Felicity closed her eyes, irritated at her own ignorance. _Rhaz al Ghûl_. She should have known it was an Arabic name. Wait. _Shit_. That reply also meant that Sara had joined ranks again with the League. _No no no no_. _Not a good idea Sara, not a good idea_.

"Sorry- I was just being stupid. I knew that, of course. After all that research you'd think something might have stuck," she groaned. "So you're back with good old Rhaz, then? Back to the darkness? Oooh, I've always been curious about how your communication system works. Can you tell me? I won't tell, I swear. I've never told anyone about your wig, either. I once tried to decode one of the League's sites to find out but I never really got anything from it. There has to be a smart way you guys converse internationally, though, right? I mean- sorry. Sorry, it's not my business."

She could now hear loud, fast footsteps. Sara was breathing louder than before and was not at all focused on what Felicity was telling her. Or so it seemed, anyway. Then, there was silence and Sara got back to breathing normally, again.

"Yeah. Okay, I can talk again. Erm, can't tell you that, Felicity. That would be making the secret not so secret, right? Anyway, since Oliver and I broke up, I figured this was a useful waste of time for a month or so. I've re-joined, but I'm free to leave whenever, now. Nyssa took care of it," she explained.

It took zero time for Felicity's jaw to slacken and her mouth to fall open. She heard Sara move around in the background, but she didn't really pay attention to it.  
They'd broken up. They'd broken up and Sara had joined the League again. But that made no sense, because that would mean Oliver was not where Felicity had secretly expected him to be: with Sara. But if he wasn't with Sara, then where was he? Her mind was reeling with possibilities.

Sara called Felicity by her name. She came back from her thoughts and replied.

"Yeah, no, still here. I'm sorry you two broke up, I didn't know."

There was a silence and a large exploding sound somewhere in the distance.

"You didn't know?"

Felicity shook her head and answered.

"No, I haven't seen Oliver since we locked lips," she closed her eyes after the words had left her mouth. She then rushed to say, "Which I'm very sorry about!"

She made a fist of her hand and thumped it against her head, mouthing _stupid, stupid, stupid_ as she did so.

"It's fine," Sara said. "We didn't break up just because of that, there were many other reasons. But anyway, why are you calling me? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

So Felicity got to the point.

"Well, we hadn't heard from you or Oliver in the Arrow cave for around a week and a half, so I was just hoping you were together. But since you aren't, any ideas where _he_ could be?"

Another gun being fired in the distance and a curse from Sara. Felicity felt the need to help, somehow, but she had no idea nor ability to. Maybe she could try to direct some drones their way, but then the League would be outed and Felicity rather doubted that they wanted that.

"Have you tried the clock tower," Sara tried.

"Yeah. No Oliver."

"Second lair?"

"Check."

Silence. Then, a doubtful tone.

"Maybe Tommy's old apartment? He used to go there just after you guys brought him back from the island?"

Felicity stilled and shook her head in disbelief.  
"I can't believe I didn't think of that," she murmured. "_I can't believe I didn't think of that_. Smart thinking, Sara, I like it! A real graduate of Common Sense University!"

A chuckle at the other end of the line.

"I hope you find him. Call me if you don't, okay?"

"Okay; good luck out there!"

"I'll be fine. You'll see me back in the foundry in no time!"

_Let's hope it's not in a body bag, though_, Felicity couldn't help but think as she heard guns going off in the distance again just before Sara cut off the call.

* * *

When Felicity, Roy and Diggle finally stood in front of the apartment complex Tommy used to live in, they huddled together for a private conversation. Felicity rubbed her hands as they stood in a circle. The building in front of them was a huge one, and Tommy had owned the penthouse. It was no surprise, but she was still curious to see how it looked inside. Most of all, though, she was curious to find out if Oliver was in there.

Looking up and down the tall building, she couldn't help but think Tommy had expensive taste. The building was sand-coloured and every flat had large, oddly-shaped windows. The front door was massive and had a large knocker on the middle of it. She wondered how many times drunken students and young daredevils had run up to the door and used it. As she watched the door, Diggle got down to business, wondering aloud what the best course of action was. Roy and Diggle agreed within moments that it was best to let Felicity do the talking as soon as they saw him. Felicity opened her mouth to answer, but Diggle cut through her reply.

"No, it's simple, Felicity. You put him there, so you get him to come out of that place," Diggle demanded.

Felicity opened her mouth again to protest.

"No complaining now," Diggle warned. "I would have told Oliver the same if you had been in there. You should have thought of this before all of that."

After those words, he stalked towards the front door. She waited until Diggle was ahead of her before following. She stomped her feet on the pavement as she walked towards the entrance of the building.

"Thought of this when?! When he was manipulating me or when he kissed me senseless," she murmured, irritated.

With a bounce in his step, Roy walked up next to her.

"I thought you said you got into it as well," Roy quipped. "That you guys had fun."

Felicity sent him a glare. If looks could kill, she was sure he would have died. The hooded man sent her a toothy grin.

"Anyway, when are _we_ finally going to have some fun?"

Felicity rolled her eyes at the pick-up line. She was grinning at the same time, though.

"Not anytime soon, unless you offer me a significant amount of money," she said.

"Oh, is that how Oliver did it? Well, I'm not rich, but guess I'm not bad-looking, either," Roy said. "You should know, you've seen me with shirt and without."

He winked at her, after that line. The caramel-coloured man in front of them rolled his eyes and got them inside the apartment building. Felicity looked Roy up and down as they waited in front of the elevator.

"Let's just say money would make it more enticing," she replied with a dry tone.

Diggle smiled at that reply and Roy faked a heart attack next to him. When nobody tried to save him and the elevator arrived, he got in fast while glaring at Felicity in mock-anger. She was smirking, but otherwise didn't let the situation get to her. She had other things to think about.

What she was going to say to Oliver, for example. Sure, she had been worried about Oliver not being anywhere in the vicinity of the foundry or any normal spots. And about the fact that he hadn't seemed to want to talk to anyone. But she was also rather irritated by the fact that she had had to hear from Sara that the two of them had broken up. And that there was more going on than just their kiss, apparently. Here she was, all this time feeling guilty about wrecking a relationship when it had already been a sinking ship to begin with! The thought alone set her teeth on edge.

She shook her head as they neared the front door, her stomach rolling in anticipation. Diggle used a paperclip to open the lock and slowly opened the door. Inside, the light and the radio were on. It seemed like someone had been living there, but when the door had opened wholly, they saw that all the furniture had plastic over it and that there was a thick layer of dust on those pieces that were not covered by it. A persistent ache blossomed in Felicity's chest as she recognised Tommy on pictures hanging on the hallway walls. Sometimes, she still couldn't comprehend the fact that he had died. For Laurel, as well. It made her wonder about the person behind the pretty outside. Laurel had never seemed like an especially special girl to her. But then again, who was she to judge. Nobody had died for her.

Felicity moved from the hallway to the living room, which was filled with covered furniture, but no Oliver. There were traces of living, here, though. There was a plate on a table, cover chucked away on the ground. A couch had been uncovered and a book lay on top of it. When she walked past, the title caught her eye._ Catch 22_.

Diggle and Roy followed her silently, not wanting to be the first one in the room in case Oliver was there, but not wanting to leave her on her own. The idea that something would come at her in this house made her want to roll her eyes at first. When she'd seen all the covered furniture, though, a feeling of unhomeliness came up inside her and she didn't mind their presence as much, anymore.

It was a rather creepy place; it looked like a home but it lacked all elements of it. The walls were creamy white and what she could see of the furniture was expensive, but that was just it: most if it she could not see. She turned into the next room, which was more of an extra room with a large desk in it. As soon as she had spotted its' inhabitant, she had crossed the room in the blink of an eye.

Relieved to see him, she sank on her knees next to him, holding his arm with her hands.

"Oliver! Thank god you're here, we were getting seriously worried," she called out.

The man himself looked at her, but without really seeing her, it seemed. He had to close his eyes for a few seconds to get back to where they were. He had been consumed by deep thoughts, apparently. He was sitting against the red wall of Tommy's study room and had been staring at the desk in front of him for quite some time, now. He was sporting a huge bruise on his jaw and as far as Felicity could see, his knuckles were just as bruised. Another purple bruise peeked from the edge of his shirt. One of his hands was holding his side oddly as he sat, which worried her as well.

"Felicity," he asked, confused.

Felicity nodded. Oliver looked at her, then leaned back against the wall again and closed his eyes.

"Yeah. Hey, hey- stay with me. Oliver! _Shit._ Have you drunk anything, lately?"

Oliver shook his head. Felicity wanted to turn around to ask for water from Diggle, when a flask appeared next to her head. She jumped, but smiled at Diggle nonetheless, thankful for his help. After she had given the flask to Oliver, he drank from it like he was parched and hadn't seen water in days. As he gulped, she watched his blue eyes get back into focus. The heave of his chest became regular again and he moved one knee to lean his arm on it.  
Behind her, she could hear the sounds of Diggle and Roy leaving the room and going back into the living room. She fussed about Oliver, giving him some leftover chocolate from her bag and taking his temperature. Slowly but surely, she saw him get back.

"What's this with all these bruises? Did you fight without any gear," she asked worriedly as she turned his head around to look at the bruise on his jaw. "Scratch that, did you get into hand-to-hand combat with King Kong?"

With a slow movement of his hand he tried to get her to release his jaw, but she slapped his hand away. She continued inspecting the jaw. It was rainbow-coloured and looked very painful. Oliver flinched whenever he had to swallow, even grimaced as she looked at it from up close. He didn't reply, but did attempt a smile at her comment.

"Guess the nurse will have to bandage you up," she stated, gaze narrowing on his side the second he winced when he had to move it. She was silent and closed her eyes for a second, but resumed her speech without mentioning her word choice. "Ready to leave this place?"

She moved her hand behind him and tried to pull him up, but Oliver shook his head. Because he was looking so miserable, she let it go and sat back again.

"Oliver, you're not staying here," she stated.

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Felicity," Oliver croaked as he moved up, wincing when he had to move his side. "I can't give you what you want, right now."

_Huh?_

"What?"

"I know I told you I would, but. I can't give you what you want, right now. After Sara."

Exasperated and open-mouthed, Felicity looked at him as he was slowly moving up. _Is he serious_?

"You- you think that's what I'm worried about? You're sitting here half out of your mind, bruised from your head to your toes and you think I'm worrying about a little kiss?"

Oliver grabbed the table to hold onto with one hand, holding his side with the other. The blonde watched him do so, feeling a bit hurt at his implications. As if she would be shallow enough to be worrying about herself when someone else was in need!

The only thing she wanted right now was to get Oliver bandaged up and on a bed.

"I'm thinking I need to be honest, Felicity," he mumbled, jutting his hip out to lean his whole body against the table. "You need to know what you're getting in to."

Felicity rolled her eyes as the meaning of his words became clear. She glared at Oliver.

"What I got into was a group of people who were trying to make the world a better place. A group of people trying to make a difference and saving lives. Whether that includes the added bonus of kissing you or not, I'm here to stay. So if this is as far as that goes, fine. But don't you dare think I'm out just because of such a flimsy reason," she said, voice tight and low. Angry. Then, she moved towards him and pulled his left arm around her neck and sneaked her own behind his back for support. "_Now_ can we get you patched up?"

The vigilante grunted but smiled at her in appreciation of the statement. She felt something in the pit of her stomach as he gave her that smile he always gave her when she amused him. As she held him up, she could feel the heave of his chest and it made her very conscious of how close they were. She let it go, though, and gave a tight smile in return.  
Afterwards, she pushed him towards the exit and Oliver let her lead him out of the room. When they got into the living room, Roy instantly jumped up to hold Oliver up from the other side.

"Let's get this idiot to the elevator," Felicity grumbled.

Without much further ado, her and Roy got Oliver to the elevator and stood there, waiting on the elevator. Oliver leaned on both of them and seemed to be in a lot of pain. Then, the elevator was there and they moved Oliver inside. As soon as he'd taken care of all Oliver's things and locking the door behind him, Diggle joined them.

"No offense but you look like hell," Diggle commented. "What did you do?"

Oliver chuckled, but stopped as soon as he could feel it in his body, doubling over and hissing in pain. The three of them watched him helplessly as he recovered. They glanced at each other as Oliver hung between Felicity and Roy's bodies.

Worried, Felicity reached for the hem of his shirt and raised it. Underneath the black shirt she saw an old cut and a massive bruise. It had swollen so much she thought he might have broken a rib. Diggle whistled.

"Looks broken, my friend," he confirmed Felicity's concerns.

"I was outnumbered," Oliver mentioned.

"You think," Roy threw in his two cents.

Oliver scoffed.

"You should see the other guys," he said with a smile. "It was ten to one."

Roy did a double take as they rode the elevator down.

"You won?"

Oliver wanted to answer, but Felicity beat him to the punch.

"But at what price," she chastised. "You should be happy that rib hasn't punctured your lungs yet! Or rather, I wish it had so you would realize how stupid you were to go fighting without backup."

He snorted.

"I've fought without backup before."

The blonde raised her right hand and cuffed him on the back of the head. He groaned.

"Not because you had a choice," she stated.

There was a loud ping and the doors of the elevator opened. Diggle ran away ahead of them, shouting something about a car and that was that. They brought the wounded man to the car and helped him in. On the way back, his arms were still lying across their shoulders, but Felicity and Roy didn't mind. They could only feel victorious.

_They'd found Oliver_.

A relief washed over her at the realization that everything was okay, even if Oliver needed to be patched up and probably required some medical attention. They had found him. _She had found him_. A smile slowly made its way onto her face.

Then she remembered the whole conversation she had just had with Oliver and sobered up. The smile fell off her face. She looked at him as his body was periodically bathed in the soft light of street lanterns. The reflection of the light on his face profiled it and made it possible to see where he was looking. He was staring at the road ahead of them in silence, breathing slowly. The blue of his eyes was electrifying now, but she shouldn't think like that anymore. Sad and a bit disappointed even though she had told him off for worrying about that side of her, she turned her head to look at the passing cars on the other side of the road. It was impossible to ignore the feeling coiling around in her stomach. She exhaled slowly.

Maybe she'd found Oliver, but she'd lost him as well.

* * *

**A/N:** Much better.

Anyway,

thanks for reading and don't forget to review!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** RIGHT so there's new material YAY! Here's how I envision stuff going after chapter 5, I hope you like it! Naturally, I've mentioned Roy is a bit OOC so keep that in mind when reading!

So have fun reading!

8TH OF OCTOBER NEW EPISODE PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY JOURNAL WHATEVER PUT IT IN THERE!

**Disclaimer: I own toy arrows, does that count?**

* * *

Chapter 6

X

Oliver healed slowly. Both mentally and physically. It took him two weeks to even come close to resembling his old self.

Never had Felicity, Diggle or Roy seen Oliver so stoic, so reckless or so silent, before. He now jumped at every chance to go on a mission, never held back during training and sported new bruises every day. Though never as bad as the bruise on his side had been- that bruise had now become their way of measuring other bruises. The bruise in question had taken forever to heal. Even after two and a half weeks, there had still been some colouring there. His broken rib had been tended to by a doctor, since Oliver Queen liked riding motorcycles, luckily, and broken ribs were a common injury associated with that. So Oliver got his medical attention and was advised to sit still, move around as little as possible and to take some serious painkillers.

As you can understand, this resulted in a serious case of overdoses on a daily basis and no resting. All regardless of the old man's words. But it seemed to suit Oliver fine and so the only person who made a point of telling him off for it every time was Felicity. That is, when she was not busy guiding him through elaborate buildings or past complex security measures in them.

Since she had found Oliver with the rest of the team, Felicity had consciously slipped back into her old role. She didn't do so because she wanted to, but because it was just the smarter thing to do. So for the first few weeks, she was once again just the one that kept track of the names on Oliver's lists, the one that monitored the media and she was _certainly_ the one that cleaned up their files if local officers tried to add anything in the SCPD network.

Not that she had done all of this completely silently. She had had days where she was grumpy and told everyone off and days where she just told Oliver off for anything he did. But she never made it too confrontational.

When she managed to remember it, that is.

True, she had told him that saving lives went before their relationship, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to be pushed aside. To be taken up on that offer to let anyone and everyone else go before her. So whenever the opportunity arose to sneer at Oliver with a reason, she would throw her heart and soul into it, just after it had all happened. To somehow get her emotions out in a normal way instead of yelling at him and slapping his face (which would have been what she would have done, if she could). Sadly, though, she had a conscience and had realized it was not realistic to be too openly angry about it. So instead of worrying about it, she would do herself a huge favour and just be happy with what had happened, accept it as a nice bonus and go on with her life. Whatever would be, would be in the end either way.

So, she did as she had told herself.

She may have done so irritably, easily flammable and even a bit sad at times, but that was only during the first few weeks. When Oliver got back to normal, she found it a lot easier to go on, as well. Not because Oliver was suddenly a horrible person, but rather because it made her realize that he hadn't abandoned her. Regardless of what had happened, he'd kept his promise to her. He hadn't left her. They had been friends before, and apparently they still were friends now. That much was clear.

It became obvious when Oliver started hanging out with her on the couch, both of them comfortably enjoying the other's company as they did their own things. Then even more so when, the next time, he confided in her and told her the origins of his broken rib. After that, they had conversations about her, her day job, about Norah. Everything, really. She told him about food and life in general and they'd sometimes do so while playing a game of minesweeper together- an old-schooler she'd never gotten tired of. Sometimes they would even have conversations about Sara, wondering how she was and where she'd be.

Slowly but surely, she got comfortable in her role as friend again- just friend, that is.

That didn't mean that she didn't feel anything anymore, though. It just meant that she tried to ignore her feelings and urges.

Instead of caressing his skin or touching his hair, she would press her nails into the palm of her hand. Whenever she smelled him and felt light-headed, she stepped away and not closer, like her whole body wanted her to. Instead of pulling him around a corner and kissing him senseless, she bit her lip and looked away from him.

Those things weren't enough to stop it all, though.

Her skin would crawl with anticipation when they were in the foundry together, even though she knew very well he would not do anything and neither would she. All her nerves would simply stand on end when he was near her, though: she could not help it. She wouldn't even have to look up to know where he was, either, as if her body could sense his. The few moments they shared together locking gazes or smiling at each other would cause her heart to go berserk. If they accidentally touched, her body would hum in response and everything would click in her head again. Like it was right, like they fit together.

But she knew very well they shouldn't anymore, and it made her crazy to feel that way. So, after three weeks had passed, she had decided she needed a distraction.

Rather than a distraction, she needed to take matters into her own hands again.

So she rang Mr. White Wine and went on an actual date with him, rather than their usual no-strings-attached business. The date had been nice. He had agreed, since he had nothing better to do, but that was just fine. They'd gone for dinner – Felicity had paid- and they'd chatted about everything going on in Felicity's life. There had not been any sparks, nor had she ever thought the person across from her was actual dating material for her, but it had been enjoyable. It felt like friends going for dinner and basically, that's what it was anyway. That, and a distraction from her lingering feelings for Oliver. So, after the date, she decided that it might be smart to take up the man on his offer to go back to their casual relationship, as he called it.

The days after that date she was much more upbeat. She walked around the foundry without worrying about or suffering from lingering feelings for Oliver and barely paid any attention to the male sparring sessions. Although nobody on the outside would have realized, her work was vastly superior to her usual work, as well, and her concentration level was higher than it had been before, in the foundry. Even when they had decided to plan a mission on the next day and thereby create a small time frame for her to do her research in, she was smiling and nodding with wide, brimming eyes.  
Around twenty four hours later, however, she was harbouring a completely different emotion as she sat down in the chair and sipped her coffee. She ignored everyone around her and cursed the fact that they had set the mission for that day. She had barely had five hours of sleep and she needed more, dammit.

Nobody seemed to pay her any attention, however, because Roy had started getting into his outfit and Diggle was trying to find handy places to stash knives in it. Oliver was somewhere in the back, but Felicity could hear hard thuds signalling that there was archery practice going on. He was probably ready to go already.

"Ugh, this colour is horrible," Roy complained. "Who wears this? How is it good camouflage?"

She swivelled around in her chair. Creating a uniform and ordering it had been her job. Both her and Diggle's gaze fell on the boy and they observed him as he put the shirt on.

"We're posing as electricians," Diggle said. "Remember?"

The apprentice pulled the jumper over his head and pointed at its brown colour when he had finished. He shook his head.

"But red? Aren't those always in blue outfits?"

"Depends on the company they work for," Felicity answered.

"But I don't look good in brown," Roy pouted.

When their gazes crossed, Diggle and Felicity rolled their eyes at each other. Felicity tried to cheer him up.

"Look on the bright side, I still wouldn't mind having electrical problems and having you sort it out for me," Felicity said and looked both Roy and Diggle up and down and winked at both of them.

Diggle snorted and Roy winked back.

"Don't be surprised when I come over and get some sparks going," Roy said with a grin and wriggling eyebrows.

Felicity looked at him over the frame of her glasses, not impressed.

"What? Don't shoot me down when I'm getting all amped up," Roy said, holding his heart.

Felicity put her hand in front of her eyes, somehow still smiling at the bad pun. Diggle directed his eyes at the ceiling at Roy's playboy ways but kept quiet. Still grinning, Roy turned back to his weapons and assembled them as the others went back to work.

Felicity checked her connection with each and every one of their earpieces. It may not have been the most expensive set she could have bought, but it would do. Her laptop beeped and she watched their victim of the day move around in his house via his security cameras. He was on the phone and moving. She turned on the facial recognition software and put it on her own devised lip-reading function. What she could gather from the haphazard amount of words it gave her, was that the man was going to have people over in twenty minutes.

"Oliver," she called. No response. "Oliver, you guys might want to get going. He'll get company in twenty."

The man walked towards the computer desk and stood next to her as he watched the screen.

"You hacked into his security cam?"

With a look at him over the rim of her glasses, she raised her eyebrows. Oliver let out a small chuckle and looked back at her, eyes gazing into hers. He grinned.

"Not judging- just appreciating."

Bowing her head slightly, Felicity took the compliment graciously. She tapped on the screen, after.

"You should get going, though. Here's your earpiece," she said. Handing it to him, she grabbed the two others and gave them to Roy and Diggle, who had joined them at the main computer desk. "And here are yours. Norman just said he'd have company in twenty minutes, so you need to be fast."

A nod from the electrician next to her.

"It'll be a touch and go, then."

Oliver agreed.

"Yes," Oliver said. "You'll keep us posted about the visitors and guards?"

"Unless you've got some sushi stashed away for me to eat," Felicity started, hopeful, but at a look Diggle gave her, she rolled her eyes. "What? Why else would I have installed all this software and gone to such lengths to be able to have a visual?"

With an amused smile, Oliver turned to Diggle.

"Let's go," Diggle agreed.

All four of them headed out in the van. The blonde had insisted that she had to be nearby, since the earphones didn't have a far enough reach for her to be too far away. Not that she hadn't bought these ones because of that specific reason. _She would never_.  
Enjoying her cunning ways in the back of the van after they had talked through the plan for the last time, she listened to all three of them outside getting ready to go inside the house. Oliver was taking up position on the side of the house behind the shrubbery and Roy and Diggle had now started walking towards the entrance. Felicity could hear them discussing which guards to take out first once they had gotten inside.

Her attention was drawn by Oliver, who asked her something. She switched her canal to just him and asked him to repeat.

"Are they inside yet?"

"No. You have few more minutes."

"What's happening?"

She looked at her screen.

"Norman's having dinner. Which reminds me of Norah, she asked me if-"

"Felicity. I meant with Roy and Diggle."

"Oh, they're taking out the front door guards," she said, glancing at the laptop screen. As she watched the screen and pushed up her glasses, she continued. "What I was going to say- Norah asked for you and Diggle to join dinner on Saturday. Something about meeting all my friends. She makes the most amazing Indian food- it's divine. I spend days afterwards daydreaming about it. Anyway, you're invited."

"Are they inside yet?"

"Yes. Will you come?"

Out of nowhere, there was silence. She heard Oliver panting and soft thumps on the floor but had no visual of him on her cameras. Which was a good thing, really, because he presumably went undetected for others as well. It was also rather irritating because she was not sure whether he was being attacked by a madman or just running around and keeping warm or something. She searched for any sign of him, wondering if everything was alright.

"I think I've got time," he suddenly said softly. Then he was quiet for some time. "Is Diggle coming?"

"Yeah. He said so to Norah, at least."

A sigh.

"I meant is he coming around back?"

Closing her eyes, Felicity clicked her tongue at her action. On the footage in front of her, she could see Diggle moving to the back of the house.

"He's on his way."

There was a conversation on the group line and she tuned in again on that one. Roy was breathing something about the amount of guards on the right side of the house and Diggle was adding to his information. They had counted four guards on all sides on normal days, beforehand, but whilst walking around they had encountered more than they should have. It led them to believe the guards had been doubled. Checking the cameras and the old footage, Felicity agreed.

"They weren't there before. It must have something to do with the expected guests," she answered. "I can see eight on each side, now. If you take out those around the stairwell and back entrance, though, Oliver should be able to get up there. There are less guards upstairs."

All three other members agreed and without talking, they maneuvered around the house and cast body upon body on the ground. When Roy had knocked out the essential men on his side, he moved upstairs swiftly to clear the way. When he got there, the coast was clear. Around the first corner he spotted six other guards. Felicity could see him squat down and close his eyes to breathe. He was grimacing and touching his ankle.

"Everything all right, there, Roy," she asked, worried.

On her screen she could see him smirk and let go of his ankle.

"You know me, always in for a challenge."

While switching to their personal channel, she changed the camera images she was looking at to those aimed at their victim for the night. Although, victim seemed a wrong word to use for a drugs baron who had been responsible for the death of around thirty people alone this year.

"Are you, now? I've never noticed," she said, wriggling her eyebrows. She started hacking into the computer Norman was using at the moment and stared at what he was doing. Distractedly, she continued her sentence. "I've never seen you experiment."

He snorted and moved around the corner, running at the first guard. He fought the man as he spoke to her.

"I do, occasionally," he panted.

"Not with drinks, though," she teased. "You always drink the same thing."

"I never said anything about alcohol," he retorted, hitting the guard. Then he started smiling. "I was talking about my extraordinary taste in women."

With a smile, she rolled her eyes and watched the brown-hooded guy fight the guards in front of him. No reply was the best reply, she figured. Suddenly, someone cleared his throat.

Felicity froze.

"Now that that has been established- How long do we have left?"

That was Oliver's voice. Wide-eyed, Felicity gripped the device in her hand and lifted it. She gazed at the device belonging with the earphones. The small screen had a green backlight and black numbers on it.  
_Sweet Mother of - coffee_.  
That had _not_ been their private line. She leaned back against the van and hit her head against the wall behind her. Diggle was chuckling somewhere, listening to the conversation. She wished she was close enough to him to cuff him on the head.  
Without missing a beat, though, she replied.

"Five minutes, guys."

Oliver moved into the sight of one of the cameras in a flash and ran up the stairway.

* * *

After that slightly uncomfortable and weird situation, life had resumed, believe it or not. Roy had sported more bruises than normal the first training after it, but he was not teetering on the edge of unconsciousness so he would live. Other than taking it out on Roy, Oliver did not show any other emotion towards Felicity nor did he seem to linger on the issue for too long. The only person to hover over the situation was Diggle, who was apparently dying to know what had happened.

Two days later, when they drove home, Felicity had once again tried to convince him of the joking nature of her interaction with Roy, but failed yet again. Diggle said there had been something there and Felicity knew he would try to get it out of her for at least another week. As Diggle drove Felicity home, Nora had rung Felicity since she was home alone until ten at least. So, naturally, upon their arrival at Felicity's, she was in front of Felicity's front door and she was holding a bag filled with folders from take-out companies. Apparently, Felicity had sounded rather exhausted on the phone and she hadn't seen Diggle in ages.  
So they had ordered pizza and sat around the table together, enjoying good food after a long day of work. Since Diggle had become a frequent addition to their dinner nights early on, he and Norah had no awkwardness between them. Although they did not know everything about one another, they were both content with as much as they knew and they trusted each other. They joked, they laughed and they shared. Norah didn't keep from teasing him anymore and Diggle had stopped tiptoeing around her feelings as much as he did before. They had gotten used to each other, Felicity realized when she saw Norah punch Diggle's shoulder, and it was endearing to see.

After a particular long rant of Norah's about her husband's morning breath, inability to do the dishes and sky-high expectations of her organisational skills, Diggle turned the conversation to Felicity. Clearly curious about the situation with Roy still, Diggle asked if she was currently seeing anyone. So with a long sigh she had explained that she had, indeed, very recently started seeing someone again. That made everyone eager and Norah and Diggle sat on the edges of their seat when she told them who.

Mr. White Wine.

Diggle had raised an eyebrow, obviously expecting a different answer. Next to that, Felicity reflected, from his point of view it probably didn't make a lot of sense to go back to that man. Diggle confirmed her suspicions when he asked Felicity why Mr. White Wine had started dating her again after such a long time. Surely he had forgotten about her already?

As soon as he had asked it, she had jumped on the occasion to get it out. She looked him in the eye as she answered.

"He doesn't mind. We had kind of a touch and go relationship. I guess the correct idiomatic term would be fuck buddies," she clarified.

After the words were out, she gauged his reaction. The man across from her regarded her with wide eyes for a minute, then stared behind her. After a few seconds of trying to apprehend the meaning of her words, he nodded.

"I guess that explains… things," he said. He shook his head with a smile. "Mainly why you never spoke of him that much. I always wondered how you kept so quiet about him."

Her best friend snorted at that and pointed at Diggle.

"_You_ may not have heard about him, but I sure did. Before all that Oliver stuff."

The only thing she got in reaction to that was a glare.

"You kept forcing me to tell you things," Felicity sneered.

Norah blew a kiss her way and winked at her. Moody, Felicity started clearing the table and brought out the desert since everyone was done. Last of all, she brought out the spoons and handed each of them one. Diggle cleared his throat and she looked at him curiously.

"Why didn't you just start dating again," Diggle asked.

Felicity groaned in response and started scooping the ice cream into their bowls.

"I did that last time and I found out that all the good ones are either taken- or gay. All the others have either a weird sleeping habit or like to watch me eat- both of which make me incredibly uncomfortable."

Diggle winced, but Norah started watching her eat her desert on purpose. At a good kick to the shin, she yelped and glared at a contentedly smirking Felicity. Norah nursed her shin and looked at the damage, then came up again with a wicked grin on her face.

"Don't forget the man who had a foot fetish," she reminded.

The change of topic came made John cough in response, almost choking on his ice cream.

"You dated a person with a foot fetish," he asked incredulously.

Felicity nodded, spooning some more ice cream into her mouth. As it melted, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the minty chocolate-chip flavour. Ice cream was food of the gods, she decided. Diggle was still watching her, unimpressed, waiting for an answer. She pointed her spoon at him in thought.

"You know, you'd think it was a nice thing. That they'd massage your feet and kiss them after a long day at the office," she mused as she finished the ice cream. She looked back at her bowl. "But it's much less fun, I can assure you. Especially the sex part."

Diggle made a face in response and the blonde raised her shoulders defensively.

"Hey, I didn't know from the start: we met on a blind date. I went on those a lot, before Mr. White Wine."

Norah nodded at Diggle.

"That's why I told her to settle for that guy. He was easy, not weird and available whenever she needed it: easier than looking for a needle in a haystack during those blind dates."

Diggle looked from the brunette to the blonde and back.

"Since when does Felicity take your advice?"

Norah looked affronted. The IT-girl laughed at the face Norah pulled. When Norah squinted her eyes at her, she shook her head and looked at the ceiling.

"Oh come on, Norah, I love you like a sister but we all know you're not known for your relationship advice."

The afro-haired woman raised an eyebrow at that and pointed her spoon at Felicity.

"Yet, you took it."

The soldier next to her looked at Felicity, wondering when she had done so. Felicity barely reacted at first. She was motionless. Then, a shrug.

"I wanted to get the advice you gave me," she argued. "I had mostly made up my mind, if you remember."

A proud smile adorned Norah's face. The white of her teeth contrasted beautifully with her skin and Felicity was once again envious of Norah's beauty.

"I remember all too well how my little sister grew up," Norah commented, a sly grin now replacing the proud smile.

Felicity and Diggle gave Norah a look.

"If no strings attached equals maturity then what age does that make you," Felicity wondered aloud.

"Currently? Under-aged," Norah said with a proud tone.

"You do realize that that makes Jay a paedophile, right," Diggle said.

The olive-skinned beauty made a face. Diggle and Felicity laughed as the comparison blew up in her face. The woman herself pouted, a bit put out. When their laughter had subsided, however, Norah cheered up again and started humming a song as she finished her ice cream. Diggle grabbed the tub of ice cream and served himself again.  
Norah put her spoon on her plate when she had finished and pushed it away from herself. Sighing, she patted her stomach. After Diggle had spotted that, he offered Felicity the rest of the ice cream. She gratefully accepted and scooped some more in her bowl. The moment the ice cream hit her tongue she made a delighted sound. Nothing beat ice cream, really. _Well, maybe a few things_. But none of those things she had in front of her, so they didn't count.

Suddenly, Norah stopped her movement. Their long friendship rewarded Felicity at that moment; she knew Norah had remembered something. Norah grabbed her bag and grabbed her phone. Her husband had probably sent her a message, if Felicity was to go by her hunched shoulders and secret smile. Instead of replying, though, Norah looked up and away at the clock on the wall. Then she turned back to her phone, answered his text and joined the conversation again.

"Anyway, I'm sure you'll tell me more about Mr. White Wine soon," she said with a wink as she stood up from her chair, depositing her bag next to it and carrying her bowl and spoon to the kitchen. Diggle shook his head at the woman when she returned. "What! You can't say anything John, with Lyla in your pocket."

John heaved an exasperated sigh.

"We're just working together."

Norah tilted her head back, eyebrows arching.

"Does anyone still believe that, John? Really? …Felicity?" With a sceptic look at John over the rim of her glasses, Felicity answered her question. "Exactly."

The man raised his hands, palms up.

"It's the truth and nothing but the truth."

Though Norah gave him a look, she did not reply to his comment.

"Well, denial or not, I need to get going," she said.

The lawyer reached for her bag when she had walked past the table and collected her keys from the coffee table. In front of the dining table again, she stilled and fixed her hair whilst looking at the mirror above the table. Felicity and John shared a look while Norah pulled on her skirt to adjust it and brushed a hair off her shoulder. When she was done, she leaned over and pecked Felicity on the cheek and patted John on the shoulder.

"It was lovely," she started, grabbing her bag. "But as you know, I start at eight tomorrow and I want to see my hubby before that. Be at my place at eight the day after next. Don't forget Oliver!"

Felicity pumped her fist in the air.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Diggle was half-turned around and raised a hand to wave at Norah. He was smiling, as always amused by Norah and her typical behaviour. The brown-eyed woman opened the door and walked out, waving at the two of them.  
The moment she had left and the door had shut behind her, Felicity turned to the ice cream in front of her again._ What. Chocolate Mint Chip is irresistible. _Diggle followed her example.

The Ice cream took up both of their attention and a few minutes passed in silence, just worshipping and honouring the food. Diggle had finished early.

"I like this flavour," he observed.

She nodded with wide eyes.

"We're lucky I didn't eat it before. I usually have a spare pint of this in my fridge to eat when I'm stressed."

Mouthing a silent "ah", Diggle leaned his head on his hand as he watched her finish her bowl. After she had done so, she turned on her chair and sat sideways. It was a comfortable position for a comfortable situation.  
Her friend watched her silently, smiling when their eyes met. She returned his smile and looked at the spoon she was still holding in her right hand. Felicity remembered her conversation with Oliver about her and Diggle's friendship and she smiled at the table. It was nice that Diggle was so comfortable in this house, around her friends. It gave her a sense of home, a sense of family, even though she had left hers behind as soon as she could.

When she looked up again, Diggle was giving her a look and crossed his arms.

"So, am I finally going to hear more about this mister White Wine?"

She pinched her nose. He had remembered. But then, it had to happen sometime. She had to tell someone, somewhere. Reluctant, she leaned against the table next to her and fidgeted with her hands as she answered.

"What do you want to know?"

Diggle raised an eyebrow.

"Everything."

Pursing her lips, Felicity looked away and hit the leg of the table with her foot. He was still staring at her.  
Felicity sighed. It was not that she didn't want to tell him, it was more that she hadn't told him yet. His reaction would have been different if she'd told him earlier.

"I should have told you this before," she murmured. Then she looked at him and continued. "I might or might not have left out on purpose that his name is Roy Harper."

Diggle sat up. He was regarding her with wide eyes and pulled his head back in surprise.

"Roy," he repeated as if testing the name on his lips. He creased his eyebrows and looked at her through narrowed eyes. "It's Roy?"

Crossing her legs, Felicity leaned against her chair again, away from the table. Away from Diggle's obvious surprise and disbelief. She nodded.  
The man in front of her was shaking his head and still looking at her wide-eyed. He raised his hand and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but then seemed to refrain from doing so and touched his chin with his fingers, stroking it lightly. For a few seconds, there was complete silence.

"Why Roy? It… you have nothing in common. It makes no sense," Diggle struggled to say.

Then Felicity drew in a big breath and explained. She just went for it, come hell or high water.

"The first time happened when we came to my place to pick up my laptop. It wasn't something either of us planned, but he was suddenly close and ….so things got a bit steamy," she began. Diggle winced at her euphemism. "When he said we could do that more often, I said no at first. When I came to the foundry the next day, though, I had zero attention for Oliver's rippling muscles and I could finally work. Un-distracted! When Norah agreed, I went for it and we met up a few times. Obviously Oliver and I got in some lip action then and I didn't want to ruin that so I waited. But now I'm stuck in a room filled with pheromones again, every day, and I have to take my mind off being there. So I thought meeting up with Roy again might take the edge off of things."

Diggle nodded slowly. He looked at his hand, which he had deposited on the table and back at her again.

"So there's no emotional connection?"

She shook her head.

"We're just friends with benefits," she answered.

For some time, he seemed satisfied with that answer. He looked at his hand, which was scratching at the table, and at her again.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked away.

"He was on the team. I thought you'd tell me off. Something about risks for both of us and such."

Shaking his head, Diggle grabbed her empty bowl and stacked it on top of his. He stood, still shaking his head, and silently took both their spoons with him to the kitchen. When he returned, he sat down on his chair again and locked gazes with her.

"It's not risky just for you two, it's for all of us. You should have told me before," he said. He looked at the table in front of him, hesitating before he scratched at its surface again. "I don't mind who you date, you know that. But if it could have affected your judgement, you should have told me."

Her shoulders slumped and she nodded.

"I know," she mumbled.

Diggle rubbed his temples and pressed his lips together.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not happy about you not telling me. But I'm happy you told me now," he stated.

Relieved, Felicity wagered a smile at Digg. He smiled back. They looked at the table in silence until Diggle broke through it.

"Anyway, I thought you said something about a movie on the telephone," he said in a kind tone.

The tone made her realize the conversation was over and done with and he knew enough. He had said what he had needed to say about the subject and was ready for something else. Jumping at the chance of being temporarily granted a respite from the conversation, Felicity followed Diggle to the television screen. The man himself had walked over to the movie cabinet already and was shaking his head at her big collection of romantic comedies, declaring he had no desire to watch those.

Felicity looked through her collection and pointed out some good movies to the man seeing as he doubted some movies. They narrowed it down to a top five and Felicity left the choice in Diggle's hands. She stood still, staring at the movies and wondering how Oliver would react to finding out Mr. White Wine was Roy.

She bit her lip as Diggle turned on the television screen and watched him put the movie on. The man had reacted completely different from how she thought he would react, which confused her. Would it be the same with Oliver?  
She reckoned he would feel a bit betrayed, a bit angry even. Then again, the man had decided to let her go and she had just made the best of it, really. It wasn't as if Oliver had never made the best of his situation with other women, either. When he had done the dirty with Isabel, had he really heeded her warning or listened to her opinion? No, he had gone ahead and started his relationship with Sarah without a second thought, she realized bitterly.

_And if he does so, why shouldn't I_.

Feeling liberated by the thought and exuberant that she had told at least Diggle the truth, she leaned back as the opening credits of _Proof_ rolled by.

Diggle sighed theatrically when he realized she had tricked him into watching a mathematic romantic comedy, regardless of his preferences. But he didn't change the movie.

* * *

Soon after, it was Thursday. That day marked a month, Felicity realized as she looked on the calendar. A month since Oliver and Sara had broken up. It felt like forever to her, but it had only been thirty days and thirty nights. In the beginning, even one night had felt too long.

She could barely fathom that it had been a month, really. She would have thought that within a month, her life would have become normal again, would have turned back around. Now she knew better.

She tapped the calendar next to her laptop screen in thought.

It was a long time, thirty days. 730 hours, to be exact. She wondered how she had spent them all. There was training, arrow-work, reading, Computer-related hobbies, hacking, being with friends , finding Oliver and being with Roy the one time. She pursed her lips at the thought of Roy and stopped tapping the calendar.

In two days she would go to Roy's place again, she remembered. He had invited her over for wine and cheese or something along those lines. Not that she expected him to have any wine or cheese of importance but it was as simple as that. A simple invitation, no underlying feelings. Except for amusement at his bad pickup lines and flirty behaviour. Overall, they felt no need to have deep, meaningful conversations when they were together, nor did she know any more facts about him than she needed to as a friend. There were some she had gotten to know during their casual relationship, but that was fine. As long as it ended there. Roy was a lovely hunk, but he was not for her.

If anyone asked her, she couldn't even explain why that was. He was nice, he was funny and he cared but it just didn't work. Maybe it was the cold feeling she had when she woke up tucked against him after sex or maybe it was her irritation at his fixation on time. He was always looking at clocks, she had noticed. Or maybe it was just the fact that they had nothing in common except for the generation they were born in. Maybe it was just that her body had rejected his smell in a biological process. Either way, Roy was not for her and she was not for Roy. It was all crystal clear to her.

The bell rang and caught her by surprise.

She jumped up, frightened. Which was stupid, really, because she had been expecting them. It was just that she had gotten side-tracked. She glanced at the screen of her laptop and realized she had never finished the code she had been typing. Quickly, she finished it and pressed enter. The laptop started whirring and downloading the program.

Hurriedly, she darted towards the door and opened it. In front of it stood Oliver and Diggle, both smiling. Warmth flooded through her at the sight of her friends. She greeted them quickly and ran back inside the apartment when she heard a beep come from the laptop. She shoved one of her bobby pins in place while she typed with the other. On her left, she saw Oliver coming into her living room whereas she could hear Diggle go to the bathroom.

"Give me a minute," she explained. "An officer has just made a new entry to the Arrow file."

Oliver wandered over and looked at the screen over her right shoulder. In the reflection of the screen she could see he was wearing a white button-up shirt, black slacks and a bow tie that he struggled to put on as he gazed at the screen with her. His head was just next to hers and she tried to ignore the static state of her skin as they observed what happened in front of them.

As they were watching, new information about the Arrow was added to the document. Apparently, the Arrow had been spotted by an officer. A fairly intriguing feat, really, since she was sure Oliver had not donned the hood that day at all. Close to her ear, she could hear and feel Oliver snicker. The sound went straight to the pit of her stomach, to coil around with all the other small things he made her feel.

"Apparently," she said after she had deleted the information and turned her chair around. "You cannot possibly be here."

Instead of what she had expected, Oliver had not moved back when she turned, which resulted in a close encounter with his face. Not that she minded. Fascinated, she looked at his lips and ocean blue eyes. They were not the steel-hard blue they had been the last few weeks, she noticed. They seemed softer, a hue of blue that reminded her of the sky on a sunny day.

"Apparently cops _imagine_ sightings now, even," Oliver answered.

A grin played around his lips but did not quite break through. Felicity smiled.

"I see more and more similarities between the Arrow and Ollie, to be honest," she remarked.

Finally, the grin broke through and he gave her an entertained look.

"I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad about that."

She smirked.

"It depends on which aspects we're talking about. Millionaire? – I guess that's a good thing. Playboy extravaganza?- I guess you should feel offended," she replied.

She revelled in the amused shake of his head and the slow pace at which Oliver removed himself from her vicinity, as if he was drawn to her like a flame. Her breath hitched when their gazes locked as he moved away. Already, she missed the enchanting feeling of having the broad-shouldered man close to her after such a long time of absence.

Oliver moved away completely, however, leaving her confused and with dread for the impending feeling of loneliness. Not paying heed to her mess of feelings, Oliver walked back to the mirror above the table and attempted to fasten his bow tie while watching himself. Felicity turned off her laptop after she had swirled back to it on her office chair and tried to ignore Oliver and his hopeless look as he tried to work his charm on the bow tie. When she had gathered her small purse and a jacket, however, he was still fidgeting with it and she could not move around the issue anymore.  
It was not that she didn't want to fasten it for him. She just did not feel like being so close to him and knowing it meant nothing to him.

Sighing and putting her personal feelings aside, though, she stepped up to him and hit his hands to get them away from the bow tie. He raised his head to give her room to use her magic.

"You'd think that after all those formal occasions you'd know how to fasten a bow tie," she chastised, pulling on both ends of the bow as she moved closer.

When he tried to answer and move his head down, she pushed his head up again with a decisive "No you don't". The smell of his aftershave wafted over and it nearly made her knees buckle with desire. She gasped and Oliver looked down at her past his chin. Stubbornly, she grabbed both ends of the bow and saw that instead of the regular hook, this one closed by pushing a button through a tiny hole at the other end of the elastic band.

Ah, at least that explained why he had such difficulty with it.

Felicity leaned closer to the man to fasten it. She was nearly touching him; the slow agony of being just-about-to seemed to burn her alive. She tried to breathe slowly, but the tension in her body made her breathing ragged. As she fastened the button, her hand touched his neck and sent a spark through her whole body. It tingled long after she had removed her hands from the bow tie. She judged the result as she made place for Oliver's head to move back down. It was a bit crooked, maybe. Oliver moved his head down as she reached out and adjusted it, concentrated. She bit her lip while she tried to get it just right. He observed her as she did so. When the bow finally stayed put, she smiled victoriously.

She peeked at Oliver straight after but found herself unable to move her eyes away again. He was staring at her again. Not in the way he looked at her when she was explaining something or doing a move wrong during training, but in the way he had before. Licking her lips slowly, Felicity got back down from being on her tiptoes. Oliver's eyes trailed her tongue quickly, not missing a second. She felt a nervous thrill go through her, but at the same time she became aware of what was happening and felt a sense of anger well up inside her.  
Because although she still felt something for this man and had done so for a long time, he had chucked her aside like some sort of rag doll. He had rejected her and left her on her own. Maybe he had not exactly abandoned her, but she had put her neck on the line for him and he had refused to do the same. She couldn't just stand there and act like nothing had happened, like she was some lovesick fool!

She knew better than that.

With every ounce of self-respect in her body, the blonde forced herself to look away and step back.

"There," she said, wavering voice. "Fit for a casual dinner."

Oliver opened his mouth to say something and he reached out for her, when a door behind them slammed shut. Diggle unceremoniously strolled into the room. The blue-eyed man in front of her coughed and eyed Diggle's outfit from where he stood.

"Knew I'd forgotten something," he said, pointing at the jacket.

John walked up and stopped in front of Oliver, evaluating his outfit. His black trousers and white dress shirt seemed casual enough, Felicity concluded. Plus, his bow toe worked best without any extras. Apparently, Diggle thought so too.

"Nah, man. You're good," Diggle answered.

He put his hand on the small of Felicity's back and steered her towards the front door. Oliver followed them. When they had walked through the door and Felicity turned back to lock it behind Oliver, he frowned and stood still. He looked at the wall across from him and shifted his gaze to Felicity.

"Actually, am I going there as Oliver or Ollie," he asked with a frown on his face.

Felicity shrugged.

"As long as you're my friend, each is fine for Norah."

With a nod, Oliver walked past the threshold and towards the lift. Felicity closed the door behind him and Diggle pulled a face at Oliver as she did so.

"Maybe a bit of both to keep up your image," he suggested.

Felicity snorted.

"Good idea! The way he switches personalities is bound not to be noticed! Let's call the personality 'Oliver Schizo Queen' while we're at it, as well."

The sarcasm was dripping off her words and Diggle rolled his eyes at her extreme reaction.

"Maybe it's time to find an in-between," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

As they waited for the lift to arrive, Felicity stared at the stainless steel in front of them. Diggle had a point. But not when it came to Norah. She turned back to Oliver, who was staring at the doors in front of him, confused.

"However true that may be, Norah is sharp. She'll notice within seconds. Just be yourself," she advised.

With a bounce in her step, she walked into the elevator before the others and Oliver followed soon after. Diggle trailed behind.

"Be yourself and nothing can go wrong," Felicity repeated.

Diggle remembered how Norah had reacted when Oliver had left after the Undertaking and Felicity had been devastated at losing a friend. The way she had pounced on him when they saw each other put a lioness to shame.

"Or so you'd think," he muttered in reply.

He wondered what Norah would do to Oliver, if that was how she acted towards innocent bystanders like Diggle. The man next to Felicity had a whole lot more on his name and Norah probably knew how to recite most of it without fail. He shook his head at the realization.

They were in for quite an evening.

* * *

**A/N:** Dundundun! What do you think Norah should do to Oliver?

Be angry, be normal, be understanding?

_**Read & Review, people!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Yo guys, an update! Sorry about the time it took for this one, have some shitty stuff going on in my life atm. Things to know when you read this chapter; if you're not really feeling the Roy/Felicity thing, that's exactly what I want. They are not supposed to have the same chemistry as Oliver & Felicity, obviously. If you think there's no chemistry that's even better because its a platonic thing to be honest.

**Disclaimer:** Nah

* * *

_Chapter 7_

_X_

It was an interesting sight, Felicity in the presence of her best friend. The instant they had crossed the threshold of the apartment Norah and Jay owned, Felicity had let go any or all tension she was feeling and had gotten a relaxed aura around her. In the car she had seemed pumped up and had glanced at Oliver a few times.  
Now, she didn't seem to worry about what he thought about the situation anymore. She joked with Diggle, pestered Jay and punched Norah in the arm for good measure when she mocked Felicity's cooking skills. It was nice to see her so happy, to be honest.

And then there was Norah. Man, was she a force of nature. Also, she was very much Felicity's best friend. Felicity had told Oliver that she and Norah were best friends and went way back and that they were more like sisters now. Oliver had kind of underestimated that bond.

For from the moment Oliver had walked into the room, Norah had almost imperceptibly narrowed her eyes at him, the way a sister would. But she hadn't said anything about the situation, like a friend would. Probably after persuasion from the other friend to keep any anger on the down low, but still. The only thing Norah did do was use the situation and conversation to frequently shoot him down. Hard.  
For that, he didn't blame her. He had hurt Felicity and though she did not know about their Team Arrow work, Diggle had shared that she knew most things that had happened between him and Felicity. So he figured she had a right to feel protective and to kick him down at least a little.

He hadn't wanted to hurt Felicity, though. He had only wanted to prevent even more complications and hurt down the road. He had needed time. _Hell, he still needed time_.

It seemed like Norah had understood that, though. She never fully lashed out. Maybe that was also the result of an intervention of some kind by Felicity, because Oliver could have sworn Diggle had made some big eyes when Norah had ignored perfect opportunities to kick him down completely. Frankly, she was acting like she was willing to give him a chance, even though it might be forced. The same went for her husband, Jay. The huge, buff blond man sat next to him and kept the conversation flowing easily. Diggle sat at the head of the table and Felicity and Norah across from Oliver and Jay. Though Oliver had never met the two, the fact that the rest all knew each other made for an intimate, relaxed atmosphere with jokes and more information than Oliver could ever hope to pertain in one night.

For example, apparently Felicity and Norah had once made sure an ex of Norah's would never be able to leave the country, after they found out he had cheated. Next to that, Felicity had lived with Norah when she left for MIT in an apartment and apparently Felicity had been solely responsible for getting Norah to drink red wine as well. It seemed Felicity had gotten to learn to drink red wine from her mother and she had passed it on. Felicity had genuinely laughed at both stories with such abandon that Oliver almost felt disappointed she did that with others around, too.  
It was clear she felt at ease in the house, helping with the food, understanding all references and knowing Jay and Norah like the back of her hand. She seemed so content that a nice, warm feeling settled in the pit of his stomach as he observed all the others in the room. It seemed like some sort of family that he had been invited into and it was odd how accepted he had felt the minute he had entered the room. The only person to have judged him had been Norah and even then, she had never sent a full-blown insult his way and had hugged him when he entered the house.

He looked at the other dinner guests. To be honest, Jay seemed like a good guy. There was a lot of teasing going on between him and Norah, but he had explained earlier that he was a lawyer as well so it made sense. He was a self-proclaimed lover of soccer on the weekend and he was also quite well-read. Oliver discovered this when he had seen Jay's office room during a tour of the house. One wall had been completely covered with a filled bookcase. Norah's office had been a bit more artsy with a smaller bookcase and a wall of pictures. Most with Felicity and Jay. There were some key moments in their lives Oliver recognized like graduation, holidays, marriage and general pictures during their youth. It was glaringly obvious that Norah and Felicity were a team. The buy one, get one for free- mentality. Their old friend groups had been shared. Even the current one was, he realized, seeing as Diggle and Norah had met ages ago. The fact that he now, too, got to meet the woman made him swell with pride.

Apparently, he had upped a friendship level.

It was difficult to meet Norah, though, and to be himself but be remembered of the aspects he barely associated with himself anymore. His millionaire situation, playboy status, his supposed easy life; all things Norah knew him for. Thankfully, Diggle and Felicity often got the subject off the table again subtly so his uncomfortable state could not be detected.

They ate Indonesian food, something Norah was very talented at making. Everybody liked it, judging by the happy sounds Felicity had been making and the big smile on John's face. Since he, too, thought it was very tasty, he decided to chip in and share his thoughts.

"This is really good, Norah," he praised.

Norah shrugged, ducking her chin.

"Probably nowhere near what you're used to, though."

Frowning, Oliver looked at the table next to his plate for a second then looked up again and cocked his head to the side.

"After living on raw fish and berries for five years, I dare say I know good food when I taste it."

Norah's eyes widened. Like a deer caught in the headlights, she looked up at him. Oliver was grinning at her. She smirked back, relieved but seemingly planning some mischief. She put down her fork.

"Oh right, I forgot you were normal for five years. Am I supposed to feel flattered now?"

Felicity's eyes went big and she stomped on Norah's foot with a warning look. The effect was comical, since Norah's knees flew up and against the table, causing her drink to spill on her black dress. Cursing, she ran away while Felicity glared after her.

Oliver hadn't really minded the remark, though. He liked Norah's spunk and he could see where Felicity got it from. The remark had only been another retaliation for hurting Felicity and he took it in stride. He inclined his head when Norah returned and sat down, cuffing Felicity on the head.

"Flattered or something like it," he agreed, a smile slowly spreading on his face. "Yes."

Norah mumbled something and then grinned at Oliver.

"Thanks for the compliment."

Jay turned to Felicity and smiled at her.

"So how's the job? This man still keeping you locked up night and day," he asked, jacking his thumb towards Oliver.

Felicity groaned and held her head in her hand. She peered at Jay with one eye.

"Really?"

Jay was silent and gave her a look.

"Yes he does," she said. She rushed to explain more. "But it's okay, I like working for Queen Consolidated. I get to do some stuff for Oliver which is more exciting than just the normal stuff."

Norah eyed Oliver suspiciously. He raised his hands.

"It's not me you should be blaming, it's her," Oliver said. "She gets to go home when she wants to."

Nodding, Felicity put her fork down on the table. She was wearing a nice black dress today, subtle but showing off all the right things. It fitted her and her personality. Her hair was down and it cascaded down onto her shoulders. The light got caught in it every now and then and it had gotten Oliver mesmerized a few times.

Next to her, Norah was giving him a sceptic look.

"Oliver," she reprimanded. "That's bull. We all know she has an ingrained sense of loyalty that will stop her from going to sleep if it has to. Don't you know she's working nights?"

He thought that was quite a bold move for talking to a best friend's boss, but he let it slide. Actually, he didn't know Felicity was working nights. _She was_? When?

When he tried to find support with Diggle, he was met with a blank look. Ah, so apparently she _was_ working nights. He was an idiot for not noticing. Before he could reply, though, Felicity replied to Norah and changed the subject.

"It's fine, I love working there. Anyway, let's talk about something else."

Refusing to help Felicity change the subject, Norah crossed her arms. Jay was helpful, however, and answered her call for help.

"That reminds me," he said. "How is the dating coming along?"

Oliver frowned and turned his head to look at Felicity. _Dating?_ She was squirming in her seat and looking at Diggle, refusing to meet Oliver's gaze. She turned her gaze to the table and shook her head. Oliver watched her like a hawk.  
He would not have thought he would be so pressed to know, but now the situation had arisen and here he was. He leaned forward a bit to hear the answer.

"Fine," she mumbled. Then, she found her voice again. "But let's not talk about that either."

Norah nodded helpfully, then.

"Yeah. Plus, the real question here is, does John still have a so-called 'work-relationship' with Lyla or has he finally acknowledged it for what it is? Let's talk about _that_."

Frowning, Oliver turned his head to John. _Oliver and Lyla? What?_ He had been so out of the loop it wasn't even funny anymore.  
He observed Diggle's reaction, who seemed entirely unruffled as if he had been through this a million times.  
Maybe he had, Oliver thought, glancing at Norah. Still, if something major like that was happening to Diggle, he wanted to know.

"Yes," Oliver agreed, looking Diggle in the eye. "Let's."

"Can we just leave Lyla out of it for one night," Diggle groaned. Norah shook her head and Felicity joined her. Jay was grinning. Diggle grunted. "There's nothing there!"

Felicity leaned back with her glass of wine in her hand and arched her eyebrows at him.

"You cannot actually think I don't notice you being glued to that phone and smiling at text messages that you receive across from me in the office," she said over the rim of her wineglass. "I may be good with computers but I'm still easily distracted."

Now that she mentioned it, Oliver had noticed that Diggle was inseparable from his phone these days. He had not linked it to Lyla yet but Norah and Felicity may know more than he did. He chipped in.

"You _have_ been staring at your phone a lot."

Diggle rolled his eyes at Oliver. From the corner of his eye Oliver could see Felicity smile.

"Not you too," Diggle complained. "We're just working."

Across from Oliver, Felicity clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Yeah right, working nights if you know what I mean," she said. After she had said it, she closed her eyes for a second at her bad pun. Then she continued on bravely. A smile toyed with Oliver's lips at the immediate reaction. "You're not fooling anyone here, Digg."

Oliver cocked his head to the side and watched John closely. His so-called people skills thought John had nothing to hide but then again, those skills had kept him from home for five years as well.

Diggle stood and started stacking the plates in an attempt to flee the scene.

"Nothing has happened but rest assured that if something _does_ happen you'll be the _first_ to know," Diggle said while rolling his eyes.

Norah and Felicity shared a look of blatant disbelief that Oliver could not help but snort at. Since Diggle had left with the stack of plates, though, they dropped the matter. Jay started getting all the pots and pans off the table and Oliver jumped at the opportunity of having something to do. Together with Diggle, they cleared the table and brought out the plates for the dessert Norah had planned. On his last trip to the kitchen, Diggle stopped Oliver in the kitchen with a smirk on his face.

"You intimidated yet," he asked Oliver.

With a smile on his face, Oliver shook his head as Jay walked back out again to get the silverware.

"After five years on an island, I think I can handle a bit of banter."

Having caught the last of the conversation, Jay walked back in again. He smiled.

"Not gonna lie, they can be vicious too. But I think Norah likes you. She's just kind of protective of Felicity."

Diggle snorted.

"You think?"

The blond man pouting slightly. Chuckling, Oliver patted Jay's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I deserve it. It's nice meeting you guys, though, and finding the origin of some of Felicity's characteristics."

Jay smiled broadly.

"Yeah, I guess Felicity and Norah very much alike. You might want to know; if she offers you white wine she doesn't like you very much," he explained. "And teasing means she likes you, really."

With another snort, Diggle got out the cake Norah had prepared.

"If that's really how it works, I think I should feel assaulted."

Jay and Oliver erupted into laughter and walked back into the room. Diggle followed with the cake. They discretely avoided the questioning looks Norah and Felicity gave them. Then, they ate.

Lots of topics came by during dessert. It ranged from skills to Tetris to soccer to the court system. All throughout the conversation, though, Oliver's mind nagged at him.  
For the first time, he realized how out of it he had been the last month. He had not exactly been a good friend, considering what he didn't know about his two closest ones. But now, slowly but surely, he was getting up and getting back to normal again. But not just because of his own efforts.

Thanks to Diggle and Roy he had been able to train away most of the feelings he had during the day and at night he had had Felicity and Diggle to have the real conversations. To deal with his feelings, chipping away at the mountain day by day.

Now, in the company of Felicity's best friend, her husband and the two people that were like family to him, he realized that said mountain had slowly become smaller. Like a wall, it had crumbled down and all that was left was ruins. Ruins of how much he hurt, still noticeable but not what caught your eye anymore. There was a ghost of the feelings left that was demanding to be felt, but it was a far cry from how he had felt before. All because of Felicity, Diggle and Roy.  
It scared him how dependent he had become of the other members of the team but he also felt proud of being able to let people to come that close to him after the island. Somehow, the three of them, in particular Felicity, had helped him adjust to being back and getting up to speed when he had just been back. Funnily enough, she had done exactly the same thing now, after his break up with Sara.

Oliver stared at his empty wine glass in front of him as he remembered how he had gotten to know the woman, how he had gotten to know Diggle and Roy and how the whole team had gotten together. He frowned slightly, deep in thought.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The whispered sentence came from a voice next to his head. Instantly, Oliver recognized the voice and smiled at his wine glass. A pleasant feeling settled over him. He slowly turned his head and averted his eyes to look at the bubbly blonde next to him. Her blue eyes were staring at his inquisitively and he had to look away to save himself from drowning in their oceans. As he did so, he realized she was not wearing glasses tonight.

He glanced at her eyes again, not being able to stop the thought that followed. _She has no idea how beautiful she really is_.

The thought made him sad, but he opted for pushing it away. It was too soon for such thoughts.

Meanwhile, she was still waiting for an answer. He looked around to discover the others had moved to the kitchen, cleaning up and washing up. He could see them from across the room. Diggle and Norah were laughing at something Diggle had said and Jay was looking at them, appalled at the words. When he peeked at Felicity's face, she was sending him a broad, genuine smile. He answered her quietly, but something in his throat roughened the sound into a rumble.

"Just thinking it's nice to meet your family. The people who made you, you."

The skin around her eyes crinkled in joy as she smiled. Her eyes were shimmering in appreciation. She hesitated, looking from Norah to Oliver for a second before answering him.

"I used to often wish we were really related. I was very jealous of her skin colour and her afro," Felicity shared. She looked at Norah as she was moving around the kitchen and smiling happily. A fond look graced Felicity's features. "Actually, I still am."

He tilted his head and looked at Felicity from where he sat. A ghost of a smile could be seen on his lips fleetingly when he imagined her with an afro hairdo. Then Felicity seemed to realize what she had told him and lifted her arms, holding them in front of her head.

"Stop it! It's not a thing you want to envision, trust me. I once wore a wig version to a party and I still regret the pictures. That is not to say that you could ever find them back again; I made sure of that," she gushed. Then, she breathed in deeply and calmed herself. When she opened her eyes again, he was looking at her with an amused look. She narrowed her eyes at Oliver, getting back to business. "Anyway. You are happy to see my friends, _but_…?"

He frowned. The subject change was a bit too sudden, this time.

"But," he echoed in a questioning tone.

Putting her hand on her hip, Felicity stared at him, unimpressed.

"You were too deep in thought for just that."

Looking from Felicity to her friends and back, he swallowed.

"Nothing. It just made me think of how our team got together, how _we_ met, how I met Diggle and Roy," he trailed off.

Felicity's gaze softened and the corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly before breaking into a full-blown grin.

"You're such a sap," she teased.

Immediately, he opened his mouth to tell her off for that when Norah showed up at his side and addressed Felicity loudly.

"Could I borrow this lovely fellow to help me bring the extra chairs to their original places?"

Felicity had jerked her head up to where Norah was and frowned when she had finished talking. She nodded reluctantly as Oliver got up. Oliver didn't really mind helping Norah. Whether it was to have a private chat or to help her put the chair back. He didn't care. Felicity did, apparently, because he could see the two of them mouthing at each other and making faces when he glanced their way. He walked towards the extra chairs and lifted them both.

"To the study," he inquired.

Norah's head snapped in his direction mid- mime conversation and she smiled.

"Yes, please," she answered sweetly.

When he walked away, he missed Felicity pointing two fingers from her eyes to Norah's.

* * *

Regardless of Felicity's actions, however, Norah followed him and lead him to the study. Not that he had no clue of how to get there or that she thought so, but he had a feeling she wanted to talk to him privately. Something along the lines of a good talking-to, he figured. Honestly, he couldn't really say he minded; he was happy someone was looking out for Felicity like that. He idly wondered if Norah had done the same thing to Mr. White Wine and if she had done it to the person Felicity was now apparently dating.

He pressed his lips together at the thought.

They walked through the hallway and turned into the second room on the left. Norah helped him put the chairs in the right place, right next to the door, and they admired the result for a second. Without a word, she glanced at him. Then, she spoke.

"Admirable that you join me so willingly," she observed. "I could be just about to chew you up and spit you out."

Oliver smiled at the crude image. She had narrowed her eyes at him, watching his reaction like a hawk.

"I like to take chances," he answered with a shrug and a smile. "Besides, you had the whole dinner to throw me out or attack me, so I doubt you will do so now."

She grinned and sat down on one of the chairs.

"Who's to say, though."

He found her behaviour amusing.

"I think it'll come down to a warning," he answered honestly.

Chuckling, Norah nodded.

"I think so too."

There was a companionable silence after that. Oliver leaned against the desk in the study and looked at the giant bookcase across from him. He recognized some titles. Some from his own reading, others he knew from hearing about them from friends or professors. Freud, Nietzsche- there were some genuinely difficult ones in there. There were some small statues and trophies between the books or in front of them, as well. He could see a soccer and an ice hockey trophy from afar.  
Norah leaned her elbows on her knees and tilted forward, rubbing her hands together slowly. She sighed and swallowed.

"I know you didn't want to hurt her the first time around," she said, more towards her hands than to him. Then, she raised her head and looked at him. "But I want you to keep in mind that she will probably always have a weak spot for you and that makes it easier to hurt her. Just know that being friends doesn't make everything okay."

Oliver raised his eyebrows.

"I doubt she'd let me hurt her silently, without protest."

Norah laughed.

"No, she wouldn't. And you wouldn't hurt her if you had the choice, I know. I can see it when you look at her. But I'm just saying, just know all hell will break loose when you do hurt her. I won't forgive you if anything happens to her."

She had no idea how appropriate that saying was in this context.

In response to her words, he nodded sincerely. Norah stood up, patted his shoulder and walked towards the door, beckoning him towards the hallway.

"Good," she said. "I'm glad we had that talk but let's not dwell on it and get back."

After that, they went back to the living room and sat down for coffee. But even when Oliver left the house, he could hear Norah's words echoing in his thoughts. He wondered about them on the way home. How _did_ he look at Felicity? Was it different from how Diggle looked at her?

Could he really protect her from ever having anything happen to her?

He looked at the streetlights as they passed by.

He couldn't protect her from everything in this world. No way that she was going to let him, either, if it meant being holed up in the foundry twenty-four seven. So that wasn't an option. He clenched his jaw as he watched the world flash by, making himself a promise.

Maybe he couldn't protect her from everything, but he could damn well try to protect her for as much as she let him.

* * *

The sound of music interrupted the silence. It bounced off the walls of the huge bunker and its noise tripled as an effect. The sounds were upbeat, jazzy and yet they had a very background-feel to them. The large room instantly became lighter and it seemed as if the temperature had increased. The ample colours present in the room appeared brighter and made it look more welcoming.

Bobbing her head to the music, Felicity Smoak ate her Chinese and read an article at the same time. Her unoccupied hand snapped its fingers to the beat. When a warning popped up on the screen to her left, she turned around. Instantly, she put down her box of food. Her jaw slackened.

Then, she reached for her phone and texted both Oliver, Roy and Diggle the information. When done, she glanced at the screen. She clicked her left mouse-button and listened attentively.

"Dispatch, we have a 240 on Bond Street. We need back-up and eyes. Perpetrator is still in Orchid Bay, wearing all black, blue shoes and carrying several ropes."

She shook her head and bit her lip. This was the new man's third appearance in as many days. It was almost inhuman, how active he was. Yet she still had not managed to match him to any known offenders. There were no fingerprints to be found, no clear shot of his face and when she had tried to track his cell phone, she found he had been _very _well-prepared and not brought it with.  
Eager to watch and get her facial recognition program working again, she turned on the news. A helicopter had gotten close enough to film the new chess piece on the board. She stood and turned up the surround sound behind her. Grabbing her Chinese food, she stood watching the live footage.

As she nibbled on a mushroom, Roy walked in through the back entrance, returning from his scouting mission in a different area in Starling City. Once close enough to the couch, he donned his sweater, preferring the top underneath it. He walked up to the computer desk and stopped right next to Felicity. He moved his head in the direction of the screen.

"That the new one you were on about or another one?"

Felicity shook her head, biting on a chopstick as she watched the screen.

"The old one, but my software still can't ID him."

As they watched, a white raster came over the screen and scanned the face of the new vigilante that could be seen only vaguely. There was no match. Two other faces could be matched, however: his two victims. Tom Waitish and Stevie Crossley. They had both recently robbed a bank near Orchid Bay but had never been found. Until now.

Roy pointed at the screen.

"Caught two."

She clicked her tongue.

"Not the right ones, though."

A shrug. He bumped his shoulder against Felicity's.

"It's more than I would have been able to do. Did you make that program yourself?"

Felicity snorted.

"Always the tone of surprise."

She leaned forward to turn up the sound and looked back when she was done. He was smirking. When their eyes met, she could feel his pull in her gut. She came back up again and turned her head towards him completely.

"Don't act like you don't like the combination of me and the element of surprise," he dared her.

He turned his body towards her. She raised an eyebrow at him playfully and looked him up and down. His dark blue shirt somehow complemented his eyes. They twinkled, amused at his own joke. She shook her head sceptically, but couldn't stop a smile from forming on her face at his antics. In the end, she knew he was right. There had been some rather pleasant surprises on their nights together that she would not mind trying again, later.

She watched his eyes shine and remembered how his face looked when all the lights were out but a few and how the shadows had made his face look soft and caring. She felt a spark run up her spine and spread through her body and couldn't help but join him in his little teasing game.

"I never said that," she answered. Then, she offered him a coy smile. "But I _am_ curious to know since when, instead of money and looks, the element of surprise has become the most desirable aspect in a man."

Roy smiled back and eyed the Chinese food in her hands. He leaned closer and grabbed her hand, using it to grab some Chinese Pad Thai with the chopsticks she was holding. His hand was warm against hers. Her skin glowed where he was touching it. She was still looking at him, waiting for an answer.

The brown-haired man brought the chopsticks towards his mouth and just before he dropped the food into his awaiting mouth, he answered her.

"Since I break all the rules," he answered with a saucy wink and dropped it into his mouth.

He chewed on the food and held her hand. As always, she was astounded by the fact that he had actually said something so ridiculous. When the realization that he had actually done so had set in, she rolled her eyes. But he was looking pleased as punch at how this was turning out and it was a bit endearing.

Not that she could let it continue.

"Let's just say a little bit of money would make you much more enticing," she countered.

Making a face, Roy stepped closer to bridge the last bit of distance between them. Their faces were a good few inches apart, but close enough to be able to look deep into each other's eyes. Felicity could feel the atmosphere shift from teasing to sensual and her skin was crawling in anticipation. She wasn't nervous, like she would be with someone she liked emotionally, but she felt… excited. A smile formed on her face and Roy watched her lips move.

Roy had just opened his mouth to reply and was leaning even closer, when out of nowhere a hand landed on his shoulder. Felicity let slip a small sound of surprise. Roy turned around and faced an annoyed looking Oliver Queen, pressing his lips together tightly. He was frowning as he watched Roy's face. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"So," Diggle called out as he walked towards them from the back entrance. Oliver turned his head to watch him. "Let's find out who this man is and what he wants!"

Oliver turned back and let go of Roy's shoulder. He still glared at the man as he explained what he wanted to do. Then, he glared at Felicity and she almost gasped at the intensity of the look. Instantly, she felt her skin tingle and her heart pound.

"We work in teams to get information on this man. Diggle, you're on the roof with Roy, I'll watch the crime scene with Felicity. Like we discussed," he barked, looking away.

Felicity blinked. _What?_

"But that makes no sense! I'm of no use in a car, let me stay behind with Diggle and try to track him by computer," she argued. Oliver looked around Roy and stared at her long and hard. She relented. "…_Or_ we could do it your way and I would finally get to join in on the action. Which would _totally_ fit me and my personality."

Pushing Roy towards Diggle with a particularly hard slap on his shoulder, Oliver gave Felicity a look. While he did so, he moved towards her and stood right next to her. He raised an eyebrow at her arm. She lowered her fist from her sarcastic fist pump slowly.

Meanwhile, Diggle grabbed Oliver's hood-suit and gave Roy his red sweater and mask. For a few seconds, she watched them change and then walked over to the computer desk, resigning to the situation.

"Okay, let me get the earpieces going and we're good to go."

As the boys dressed up as their vigilante alter egos, Felicity got the system up and running. She handed out the earpieces and ran through the normal warnings like don't go too far, take one of the untraceable phones with you, tell us if there's trouble. After the mandatory speech, Oliver all but stalked to the stairs and dragged Felicity with him by arm. She struggled to keep up and waved at Roy and Diggle. Diggle was grinning when he waved back.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later Felicity and Oliver were in the middle of Bond Street, hidden from view and safe inside Oliver's car. Although, safe was a huge word considering Oliver had just driven through Starling City like a madman to get to Orchid Bay in time. His hands had been turning white from clamping the wheel and only when she had told him to stop it, had he calmed down. Now, they had been sitting in the car for a few minutes watching the pedestrians crowding around the scene.  
Felicity held on to her right arm with her left and stared outside as well. Up ahead in the street, the two tied up victims that had been taken from the abandoned car by the vigilante on footage, were now being transferred into the ambulance. She glanced at the scene. Police men were already checking for fingerprints and footprints in the car and, she imagined, they were probably backtracking the owner of the car. She looked up at the rooftops again, sighing.

She peered at Oliver. Their gazes met and she instantly felt her body react to him. Butterflies started swarming around inside of her and her stomach seemed to decide it was a good time for cheerleading practice. Oliver looked away again.

Felicity decided to break the silence.

"Shouldn't we be out there, instead of inside the car?"

She pointed at the scene and glanced back at him. His blue eyes looked for hers.

"We can't. Me being there would attract attention and then we would become his decoy."

As he started rubbing his hands, she turned on her car seat, facing him. His deep tone made her shiver but she was not taking any of his bullshit and sent him a pointed look.

"I could go alone."

Oliver stopped his movements.

"No," he deadpanned. She opened her mouth to protest. "Felicity. No. You don't know what he wants. The last time we had a self-proclaimed vigilante in town he tried to kill Roy and other innocent people, remember? I can't let that happen to you. I won't."

The truth in his words irritated her and she sighed audibly. As if she couldn't fend for herself. What about all those trainings last month, huh? Had she not proved herself worthy? Agitated, she looked at the scene again.  
In the end, she couldn't help but smile, though. The fact that he wanted to keep her safe made her feel warm inside. As she watched the people outside walk by, some of them waved at her because she was smiling. But she couldn't help it- it was nice to be cared about. It felt nice to be noticed. Sitting in a car on a boring stake-out was not her favourite past-time nor what she called 'living the life' but if it was with Oliver, she couldn't care less.

She glanced at the bearded man after another five minutes. Their eyes met briefly. There. _Right_ _there. _She felt it again. That familiar shift in from a friendly atmosphere to static energy. The air swelled with the sound of their breathing and her heartbeat. She was in a car with Oliver, alone, and this was different.

This time, he had shown an interest in her that she had not expected to ever encounter again. She had watched Oliver's face when he had worked Roy away from her and that had _not_ been annoyance. That was definitely jealousy. She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt quietly.  
The thought of Oliver being jealous made something inside her awaken that had been dormant for a long time. But she wondered if he even realized it had been jealousy, to be honest. He had been so out of it, recently.  
Chancing a look at him again, she caught him looking at her.

"What," she asked when he looked away.

He looked back.

"I was thinking about something Norah said. About hurting you."

After wrecking her brain for something of the sort, she realized this must have been when Norah had taken Oliver to the study. _Damn, that woman is stubborn_. Felicity would have to change Norah's laptop password for that. Her eyes darkened as she thought about what else Norah might have said.

"When- Wait. Did she threaten you," she asked. "Because if she threatened you, you should tell me. She's a hot-headed person and she needs someone looking out for her, too. And I need to kick her ass if she did so. It's a best friend thing. So, did she?"

Oliver smiled. His cerulean eyes sparkled at her reply.

"No, but she said not to hurt you. She was a bit protective, I guess."

"More like overprotective," Felicity mumbled darkly.

Oliver chuckled and looked outside again. As he did so, Felicity planned all sorts of ways to kill Norah. She gazed at the crowd at the crime scene as she contemplated the perfect murder. She should've watched more Sherlock.

"Norah is nice. A bit of a mother figure. I can see where you get the sarcasm and quick answers from."

Her lips turned up slightly as she listened to the words. She remembered how Norah used to use sarcasm when she, herself, had had no idea what it was and took everything for the truth. Norah had laughed at her so many times. Not that she could help it. She was a child, after all. It was just Norah being mean.  
But, her mother used it a lot as well and so she learned.  
She looked from Oliver to the dashboard and back, hesitant. Since Oliver had been honest in answering her, she felt the urge to share too. Looking outside, she replied.

"My mom is very sarcastic as well. But I didn't get it from her. I didn't really talk with her too much."

Oliver frowned.

"I thought you never spoke to your father, not your mother?"

She shook her head. _Wrong_. She looked down at her knees and frowned.

"I never spoke to my dad, but my mother isn't a success story either. She used to be a gambler and a drunk. From when I was 14 to 18, I practically lived at Norah's place. Her mom gave me my own room and everything," she explained quietly. It wasn't something she shared easily but the way Oliver was looking at her and taking in everything she was telling him verbally and non-verbally, made her feel appreciated. "She's stopped now, though. No more drinking or gambling. So we started talking again and I ring her every week. She still lives in her place in Vegas but she's got a normal job at the gas station now."

She let go of a shaky sigh when she had finished. Oliver's eyes narrowed minutely as he watched her look at her knees even after she was finished.

He leaned forward and grabbed her hand in his. It happened so casually she didn't even realize what was happening, at first. Then, Felicity felt electricity arch up her hand and arm. For a fleeting moment she felt like she had been turned liquid, about to spill over.  
He wound their fingers together as he looked at their hands. Felicity's heart was working overtime.

"Why did she stop," Oliver asked with a soft voice, squeezing her hand in his.

The vigilante had cocked his head to the side and was looking at her like she was a puzzle. She squirmed in her seat but calmed down when he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. Taking a deep breath, she continued the story.

"When I left for MIT with Norah she asked me why I didn't pick something closer," she answered, gesturing with her free hand. "At first I told her all the normal reasons like being responsible for myself, no people I know, best technical university according to me… I even jokingly told her that I thought the frat boys there were less annoying- no offense. But I guess that is offensive either way. _Anyway_, she kept asking and the day before I left I told her I couldn't live in that place anymore, seeing her throw her life away with alcohol and gambling. I was fleeing."

After her explanation, she looked at their hands for a long time. It was quiet. Oliver looked outside at the scene in front of them, squeezing her hand. He didn't let go. Neither did she.  
Her heart was pounding fit to burst. The only other people who knew about this were Jay, Norah and Diggle. But Diggle didn't even know all of it. She bit her lip as she watched his thumb stroke her skin. She felt horrible for fleeing and not facing her fears, but she couldn't change the past. She couldn't, wouldn't, glorify it. Sighing, she stroked the back of his hand with her own thumb.  
It sent a new wave of tingles through her body.  
It was a pleasant, not urgent way to touch someone you cared about, she realized. She peered up at Oliver. The owner of the hand was looking at the outside world calculatingly. His gaze had darkened due to his intense concentration.  
Without feeling embarrassed or guilty, she stared at him as he did so. She wondered what he thought about. He started her slightly by turning back around.

"You're so strong, Felicity, to tell her that. I wish I'd known the right thing to do when I was that age. If I had, a lot of things would have been different. But you just knew," he said, admiring her. She smiled and thanked him albeit a bit sadly. He leaned forward and put his hand under her chin when she bowed her head again. Slowly, he pushed it up and looked her in the eye. "No, really, Felicity. You're good with these things."

Felicity opened her mouth to respond when she could hear a loud crack via her earpiece and Roy's voice. Oliver raised his head immediately, as well.

"We found him," an excited Roy shouted. "Corner of Seventh Street and Winchester Road! He's still carrying the ropes!"

Both of them immediately sat up and looked around. They were confused for a second, but Felicity caught up to speed first.

"Winchester Road," she exclaimed. "That's in the South End! How did he leave that fast?"

"He's on a motor," Diggle deadpanned.

"Oh," Felicity answered.

_Smartest comeback of the century, Smoak._

Oliver put the car in drive and drove away with a speed that was _definitely_ above the speed limit, but Felicity didn't really mind this time. She sat up and directed him through the town, all the while feeling electric sparks shooting up her left arm. They were still holding hands.

* * *

**A/N:** WELL. HOW WAS IT. They're so cute 3


End file.
